Phantom Potter
by Mostly Human
Summary: Set in the Prisoner of Askaban, when PP never happened. Twelve year old Danny Phantom has been a ghost for almost two years, but now a new chapter of his life will unravel. In a one week period he loses everything, gains a new guardian, learns he's a wizard, and realizes he was born a twin. Read as Danny Potter moves to England with his new family and attends Hogwarts with Harry.
1. The End

**Chapter 1**

"Mr. Manson, your arm needs bandaged. Sir, please let me see it." Danny Fenton spoke in a voice that was steadier than anyone would have thought him capable at a time like this. Jeremy Manson didn't look up at the intruding boy, but continued to weep over the bodies of his dead wife and daughter. "Please, sir." Danny pleaded, "You are going to bleed out. They wouldn't want that. There has been enough death today." Danny's voice shook a little when he said the word death, but his voice didn't otherwise give away any emotion.

Jeremy finally spoke. In a quiet voice he asked, "Why? Why are you doing this to me now? Can't you see what I've lost?" Jeremy didn't hear a reply at first, so he sat up to look at the boy who had been best friends with his Samantha, his daughter. Jeremy's violet eyes met Danny's ice-blue, and Jeremy flinched. In the young boy's eyes the blond man could see only pain, the same pain Jeremy himself was feeling magnified. That was when Jeremy noticed the other bodies.

When the bus first crashed Jeremy only had eyes for his family. He barely noticed the other injured and dead people. Now though those dead seemed to stand out in the cramped space of the bus. Just behind the youngest Fenton was the rest of his family. Jasmine, Jack, and Maddie Fenton were all dead. Beyond them were the bodies of Tucker Foley, Paulina Sanchez, and Star Andrews. Jeremy was brought back to the present when the ebony haired boy said, "Yes. I know what you've lost, but they wouldn't want you to die. Let me help you."

Jeremy swayed, and realised just how much blood he was losing. He finally gave in and lowered Pamela to give Danny his arm. Danny looked around and spotted his over shirt, coated in blood, back by his sister Jazz. He had used it to try and stop her bleeding, so he couldn't use it again. Left with no choice Danny took of his long sleeve under shirt, revealing his many many scars. Danny ignored the gasps around him as he got to work. He tore the shirt into usable bandage material and started wrapping Jeremy's arm.

Jeremy was becoming dizzy from blood loss. Danny noticed the man swaying and said, "Mr. Manson, I need you to focus on me can you do that. You need to stay awake. I don't know if you have a concussion, but it would be a bad idea for you to fall asleep if you do. Why don't you talk to me? It will keep you awake." Jeremy made an effort to listen to the boy, and he looked up from his arm to see the many scars on Danny's torso.

Danny asked Jeremy to talk, to keep himself awake, so Jeremy asked, "How did you get those?" Jeremy wasn't sure, but he thought he saw the boy flinch.

"How did I get what Mr. Manson?" Danny asked, hoping desperately that Jeremy wasn't referring to the scars.

Sticking to Murphy's Law the blond man said, "Your scars. There are so many."

Danny frowned, but didn't say anything for a few seconds. Finally he said, "It's not something I like to talk about. There were only four people, including me, who knew the answer to that question. Sam and Tucker and Jazz, they knew, but now I'm the only one."

"Your parents didn't know?" Jeremy frowned. He knew that the Fentons could be somewhat oblivious, but they would know about their son having this many scars. Some of those scars looked like they could have killed the young boy. "They had to have known you had these scars."

Danny shook his head as he finished tying off the make-shift bandages. Mr. Manson would have pushed farther but Danny stood up and walked back to where he'd been sitting before the crash. He bent down and found Sam's backpack, and then danny pulled out a large black long sleeve shirt and put it on. Then Jeremy watched as the boy sat down next to his sister and finally cried.

Jeremy hadn't stopped crying, but even though the boy's actions brought his mind back to his dead family, watching the teens grief over his own family was almost as crushing as the deaths of his wife and daughter. The ambulances pulled up, and they started loading people out of the bus onto the side of the highway. Once Jeremy got off he watched as they laid the Fentons together with his family and the other three children. Danny lost everyone, as far as Jeremy knew. Danny lost even more than Jeremy had. Jeremy may have lost most of his family, but Danny lost all of his family, and his only two friends.

From the moment Danny started to cry everything had become a blur for Jeremy. Nothing was able to bring him out of his thoughts. He didn't notice what people said around him until he heard, "Sir can you hear me?"

"What?" Jeremy asked stupidly.

"I need to check you for injuries." The paramedic said. "Does anything hurt?"

Jeremy frowned and squinted as the medic flashed light in his eyes, but he answered, "I'm dizzy, but Danny bandaged my right arm."

Dutifully the flashlight was set down so the paramedic could look at the bandage. The woman nodded her approval and said, "Looks like this Danny might have saved you. We'll take you to the hospital momentarily, but my bet is you only need rest. You are lucky."

Jeremy frowned but didn't comment as the woman walked away. He didn't think he was lucky, if he was lucky his family would be alive with him.

Danny was a couple yards away from Jeremy, and in a similar situation. As soon as the ambulances arrived Danny had been questioned about his health. Danny wasn't surprised and just told them it wasn't his blood. The medics understood and left him alone after they checked that he didn't have a concussion. The paramedic told Danny he was just a little bruised and he'd be fine to go straight home after they got to the hospital. Danny just nodded to get rid of the guy.

Once everyone's injuries were assessed, and the bodies identified, the ambulances were loaded and set off for the hospital. They arrived at the hospital and Vlad was already there. Danny successfully dodged the man by ducking behind Jeremy Manson as he was walked into a hospital room. No one noticed Danny in the room with them until the Doctor finished rewrapping Jeremy's arm and moved to leave. "Danny? What are you doing here?" Jeremy asked.

The doctor left and Danny answered, "I'm sorry for intruding. I'm just avoiding someone." Jeremy raised an eyebrow asking Danny to elaborate. "There is a man out there who thinks that he is now my legal guardian according to my parents will. What he doesn't know is I tricked my dad into writing the wrong name on that part of their will?"

"How did you manage that?" Jeremy wondered how the thirteen-year-old tricked his father into writing his son's name wrong.

"I was adopted when I was two, so while my name had been Danny Fenton to everyone around me, legally that isn't my name. Legally my name is Daniel James Potter. I distracted my dad enough while he was writing my name that he wrote Daniel Fenton instead of Daniel James Potter." Danny explained.

To say Jeremy was impressed would be an understatement. Jeremy had heard that this boy got terrible grades, but obviously that rumor was untrue. Danny Fenton/Potter was a genius. "So what's going to happen to you then?" Jeremy asked.

Danny shrugged. "I'll probably freeze Fenton Works, or shut it down. Then I'll end up in foster care I guess."

"Wouldn't it have been better just to go with this man you're avoiding?"

"No. He's not a good person, and I don't think I would be a good person under his influence." Danny said.

"So what would you do given the choice?" Jeremy asked.

"Where would I go, you mean?" Jeremy nodded to Danny's question. Danny thought for a minute then answered, "I would shut down Fenton Works as quickly as possible. Live at my house like I've always done. Get a job or create a business, if I couldn't find a job that worked, and continued my education privately. I'd work hard and get my GED in a year or two on my free time, and then I'd reinvent Fenton Works. My parent's have a lot of really advanced technologies, but they haven't utilized them well."

Jeremy was right. This boy was amazingly smart. He thought it was a shame that this boy would end up in an orphanage. They were left in silence for a while until the doctor came back and told Jeremy he was free to go, but Jeremy was hesitant. He paused and said, "Um, I wanted to thank you."

"For what?" Danny seemed confused.

Jeremy gave the boy a small smile. He was smart and modest. "The doctors said you saved my life with that bandage job, so thank you, for saving my life."

Danny blushed and looked down. "Anyone would have done the same."

Jeremy insisted, "They didn't though. You did."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "You're welcome, Mr. Manson."

Jeremy turned to leave again, but was still hesitant. "Was there something else?" Danny asked. Jeremy shook his head. "Then why haven't you left."

Danny watched curiously as Jeremy hesitated at the door. The man didn't have his usual composer, Danny attributed it to blood loss, and he opened his mouth once or twice before he looked Danny in the eyes and asked, "I was wondering if you wanted to come home with me. You don't have anywhere else to go, that I know of, and I have a large house." Danny couldn't stop himself from gaping. He thought this man hated him, but here he was offering his home. "I understand if you don't want to. Pam never was very inviting. I'll just go-"

Danny cut him off, "I would love to go with you. Thank you for offering." The boy's answer made Jeremy smile. Danny hopped up from the chair he'd settled in and Jeremy left with the boy in tow. He walked down the hall to the lobby where they came in. Then Danny stopped him, "Stop. The man I was talking about is in there. Here come this way." Danny lead Jeremy back to a side entrance and they ended up in the parking garage next to the hospital. Danny rubbed his neck again, Jeremy thought it must be a nervous tick of the boy's, and asked, "So where to Mr. Manson."

Jeremy took out his phone and called his chauffeur. Once he gave the servant his location he hung up and looked down to his odd companion. Danny Fenton was an enigma. Pamela had always thought the boy was a troublemaker, but Jeremy thought that was a harsh judgement. Still there were so many things that he just didn't know about the boy. The boy most the time seemed weak, goofy, nerdy, somewhat lazy, and shy, but then there were moments where the mask slipped and a complete stranger showed through. At those moments Danny could seem confident and experienced and nothing like the boy he so often portrayed. That made Jeremy think back to those scars. Jeremy couldn't think of a situation that could cause those types of scars. Not even child abuse explained them, not that the Fentons could ever hurt Danny.

Danny must have noticed Jeremy's expression because he asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Jeremy jumped, he almost forgot the boy was there, "It's nothing, I just realized I know nothing about you." Jeremy couldn't get rid of the frown on his face.

"Oh." Danny's feet shuffled awkwardly then he looked up to the lavender eyes of Mr. Manson. "You know, I don't know anything about you either. Sam was always talking about her war with her mom. I have an idea though."

Jeremy had to stop himself from crying again when Danny mentioned Samantha and Pamela. He blinked a few times and asked, "An idea?"

"Yeah lets play a truth game. The rules are fairly start by asking a question. Then the other person has to answer truthfully, and then the other person asks a question back. You can pass and choose not to answer a question, but it ends the game on the next turn. After you pass you have to ask the other person one last question. If the person answers the question then you lose, if they don't you win. So what do you say?" Danny explained his game.

Jeremy thought it over for a second. It sounded like a pretty good idea, he agreed, "Sure I'll play, but let's get in the car first. Our ride's here." Jeremy said while pointing to the black luxury sedan.

They got in the car and Jeremy started, "What is your favorite color?" Danny gave him a look that said, really, that's your question. "What? It's just a warm up." Jeremy defended his lame question.

"Okay. My favorite color is blue." Danny answered leaning back in his seat. "My turn. What's your favorite hobby?"

Jeremy answered, "I garden. What about you? Same question."

"I like to star gaze." Technically it wasn't a lie. Danny's favorite hobby was star gazing when he was human, now though Danny liked to look up at the sky while flying at night. It was still start gazing, just not what most people would think of.

"I didn't know you were a stargazer." Jeremy commented.

"That's kind of why we're playing, isn't it? Yeah, I like the sky. When I was little me and my mom would go star gazing and she'd tell me all the scientific facts about space. I even wanted to be an astronaut for a long time." Danny paused, then said, "Were you always rich? I know that your wife was the one with the family fortune."

It surprised Danny when Jeremy shook his head no. "I was higher class, but never rich. I was, well off, but I didn't know the meaning of rich until I married Pam and moved to America."

"You didn't live in America?" Danny asked curiously.

"I grew up in a town outside London, England, but it's my turn." Jeremy said, "You said earlier you were adopted by the Fentons when you were little." Danny nodded so Jeremy asked, "What do you know of your biological parents?" He was curious because the name Potter was famous in the wizarding world, not that Danny would know that.

Danny scratched his head, thinking. "I don't know much. There names were Lily and James Potter. Other than that I really don't know, I do know what they look like though. I've got a picture. Lily had auburn hair, just a shade darker than Maddie's, and emerald green eyes. My dad had black messy hair like mine, square glasses, and brown eyes. Jazz always told me I looked exactly like my dad, except she said my dad looked really playful and mischievous. Jazz always insisted I had a kind look, like my mom, something about the eyes. I think she was reading too much into a photograph." Dannys said.

The answer was shorter than Jeremy expected, but it left the man gobsmacked. He hadn't expected Danny to really be the son of the famous Lily and James Potter, but now that he knew he wasn't sure exactly what to say. Danny apparently saw his surprise because he asked, "What were my parents famous in London or something?" Danny laughed.

"Something like that." Jeremy said. Danny was about to ask about it, but Jeremy stopped him. "I'll tell you everything I know if you answer the next question." Danny was wary but nodded and let Jeremy go again. "How did you get those scars?"

Danny was silent for a long time. He wanted to know about his apparently famous parents, but he needed to answer Jeremy's question to get that information. He started slowly, "There is an activity I partake in that is dangerous. It's not illegal, but no one but me, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz knew I do this. It's not something I really wanted to do with my life, but no one else can do it, so I do. I won't tell you what I was doing, but that is how I got most if not all of my scars."

The answer was vague, which Jeremy had expected, but it did give him a little to work with. At least now Jeremy knew that Danny voluntarily did something that lead to his scars, and no one had forced the teen to do something dangerous. It at least allowed Jeremy to form some questions that he could ask later. By the time Jeremy had finished thinking over Danny's evasive answer they were almost to the Manson Manor. "Okay that doesn't really answer my question, but I'll still tell you about Lily and James Potter. We're almost to my home though, so I'm not going to tell you right now. I have to prepare to tell Ida about what happened. If you remind me later tonight I'll tell you about your parents." Danny nodded and after a minute more they arrived at the mansion. Jeremy was slightly surprised at how comfortable Danny was in the mansion. Even though the boy had been here a few times Jeremy had a hard time believing Danny had become so familiar to the mansion in those visits. Jeremy brushed off the weird observation, after all Danny could have just come over a few more times than Jeremy knew of.

Jeremy walked up his walkway and unlocked his door. Ida was wearing her regular pink cardigan, sitting in her wheelchair in the kitchen. The rambunctious ninety-year-old shouted out, "Hello, Jere." She almost always called him Jere. "What are you doing back so soon? The trip get canceled?"

Jeremy suddenly felt his mouth go dry. He said, "Ida, I need to talk to you."

Ida seemed oblivious to his discomfort and said, "Okay, but can it wait a few minutes. I need to watch the stove. I'm was just making hot chocolate."

Danny decided to spare Jeremy and said, "Let me, Nana Ida." She insisted that Danny call her that. "I'll finish for you, and I'll make some for Mr. Manson and myself as well."

Jeremy said, "Thanks Danny, but why don't you call me Jeremy. I never really liked going by Mr. Manson at home."

Danny nodded and took over the stove adding more milk for Jeremy and himself, allowing Ida to sit with Jeremy at the breakfast table. Jeremy sighed, but didn't seem keen on starting. It was worrying to Ida, who said, "Well, spit it out, Jere. And why did you come home with Danny?"

"As you know, me and Pam", his voice cracked a little on Pamela's name, "were chaperoning a field trip for Sam's class today. The Fentons were the other chaperones." Jeremy swallowed thickly. "There was an argument on the bus. The Fentons, including Jasmine and Danny, were standing in the isle with Tucker, Pam, Sam, two other girls, and me. Then the driver hit something, ice maybe, and spun the bus." His voice was very quiet now. "I was thrown into a seat, but the rest were in the isle on the ground when the semi truck hit us. They're gone." Jeremy started crying again.

Shocked tears ran down Ida's wrinkled cheeks, and it broke Danny's heart more than it was. He was barely holding back his own tears at Jeremy's tale. Ida looked to Danny who came over with three large mugs of hot chocolate. "D-danny, what does he mean, They're g-gone." Her voice was shaky and scared.

Danny looked Ida in the eyes and set a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Everyone who was sitting survived the crash, but Sam and Pamela they didn't make it." Ida clutched her hands over her mouth and let out a sob. Danny pulled her into a gentle hug and tried his hardest not to become a blubbering mess with the oldest Manson. By the time Ida calmed down their untouched drinks were cold.

Danny released Ida and took the three drinks to the microwave. When he returned Jeremy and Ida thanked him. They were silent for a while, but the silence started to press on Ida and she asked, "What about your family, Danny?"

Danny took a steadying breath and said, "Mom, Dad, and Tucker died instantly. Jazz died within two minutes after the crash from blood loss. I couldn't save her."

Ida decided to try and keep his mind off of that while she could. "What about the two girls?"

Danny seemed to relax a little once he was off the topic of his family. "Paulina Sanchez and Star Andrews went as fast as everyone else. I guess we can just be grateful it was fast." Suddenly Danny stiffened, his ghost sense went off. "Excuse me." He said. "Bathroom."

Danny locked the bathroom door and flew out only to see Vlad floating around the block. "Finally I found you, little badger." The creepy older halfa said. "I wanted to see you, after today I was worried."

"I've been avoiding you." Danny said bluntly.

"Come now, I know we don't get along all that well, but is that anyway to greet your new guardian." Vlad asked lacking his normal smirk. Danny guessed he wasn't able to smirk after hearing of him mom's death.

"Maybe not, but you're not my new guardian. I tricked my dad into writing my name down wrong on that portion of the will. On that technicality I will be able to choose whether I go with you or not, and we both know how I'll choose." Danny probably would have been smirking himself under different circumstances. "And don't even think of using overshadowing to get me this time. Plasmius. I will not hesitate to overshadow my own people to arrest you for illegal possession of weapons."

"I don't have illegal weapons, Daniel." Vlad said menacingly.

"That doesn't mean I can't plant one." Danny said calmly. "I'm sorry Vlad but I'm not playing games. Not right now. Now I'm going to enjoy my last moments of peace before I have to go home and face social services. Goodbye." Danny didn't wait for Vlad's response, he just turned invisible and flew back to the Manson Mansion.

The rest of the day flew by quickly. Danny called the contact number for his mother's sister Alicia. He got lucky and found her in town that day, so instead of leaving her a message like he planned he told her about Maddie, Jack, and Jazz himself. Danny told Jeremy that he'd called his would-be guardian about the technicality in the paper work that he'd worked in. Then he spent left after dinner for his house. He didn't have the key's so he phased through the door. The ghost alarms blared and Danny rushed downstairs to the lab to shut it off, but he didn't manage it. The lab.

Just as he opened the door the oh-so familiar smell of ectoplasm, metal, and fudge hit him like a wave. On a table to the right was a half finished gun his mom was building, and to the left was a charred wall with ectoplasm puddled on the table beneath it. Around the lab there was humming and whirring sounds coming from various machines, but still it was too quiet. Something was missing. Danny fell to his knees and sobbed as reality came crashing down on him. His parents and Jazz were gone forever.

Danny barely even noticed the alarm anymore. He lost track of time sitting there crying, but the door bell sounding with the alarm brought him back to the present. He stood up shakily and turned off the alarm before running back to the front door. It was one of the rarely seen neighbors. She immediately started ranting, "We put up with a lot of noise from you Fentons-"

"Laura." Danny cut her off. "I'm sorry. It was an accident. I can promise it won't happen again." He had been trying to stop crying to answer the door, but after he realized that his family's ruckus never would be heard again he gave up on not crying. Of course Laura noticed.

"Danny, what's wrong?" Laura tentatively placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. She wasn't close to the family, but the young boy was sobbing.

Danny spoke slowly, so he didn't make a mistake. "There was an accident today. It killed eight people, including Jazz, and my parents."

Laura gasped, "Oh my god! Are you okay? What happened? Are you here all alone?" Laura asked worried.

"You don't have to worry about me, Laura. I only got a bruise. Just please don't call social services. I have somethings I want to wrap up here at home, and I can't do that once they figure out I'm alone." Danny asked.

"But Danny-" Laura started.

"Laura, would you come inside?" Danny moved aside expecting her to come in after him.

Laura was hesitant, but then again Danny was alone. "I guess." She walked past him. He closed the door and gestured for her to follow. He moved back down the stairs to the basement lab, but this time he didn't stop. Laura reminded him of how little time he had.

"Why don't you sit?" Danny gestured to a folding chair by a clean lab table.

Laura sat down and watched for a while. Danny moved quickly and with purpose. He moved first to the portal. He made sure it was locked and checked that no one had entered or exited using the portal since his last patrol. Once he was satisfied he did something he never thought he'd do. Danny pulled the plug. Having been on the inside when the portal was started the portals ending was a much neater affair. It simply faded the swirls of ectoplasm faded out and dispersed like steam.

With the portal taken care of for the time being Danny moved onto the blue prints. He took his personal laptop and plugged it in. He deleted everything extra to make room and then he scanned in every blueprint. As he did so he wrote down the names on a document on a separate computer. To double check that he had everything. The only thing missing was the ghost gabber.

Laura chose to speak up. "Why did you invite me in, Danny?"

Danny glanced up and Laura saw Danny's frenzied grief. "You were protesting not calling social services. I appreciate your concern, but it was going to cause a lot of problems a lot sooner than I need them. I invited you in to tell you why you shouldn't call anyone." Danny looked back to his scans. He finally found the ghost gabber, and that was everything. He didn't look to make sure Laura was listening before he continued. "There are very few people at this point that know I have no where to go, but people will know soon enough that I'm alone. It wasn't a small accident. But before people figure out I'm here and come for me I have things I need to do. I have a lot to do, and dwindling time to do it." Danny stopped and looked Laura directly in the eyes, so she could see his desperate gaze. "Please. We've never been close neighbors, but this is probably the last time you'll see me before I leave, and as a last favor, don't call the authorities."

Laura was at a loss for words. Here he was this young teenager, begging her not to call social services not so he could grieve in peace, which she would understand, but to work. "Fine, but why do you need to work? What do you need to do?" She asked.

Danny relaxed for the first time since she walked in. "Thank you. This is a little bit of a long story."

Laura replied, "This is the last time I'm going to see you right, you might as well tell me now."

"There have been multiple occasions where a government agency known as the GIW or Guys in White, have confiscated my parents lab. They come in here with a warrant and some money and they take the lab as they bought it. Each time I've had to sneak back in and protect the lab in some form, because of this agencies aims." Danny started to explain.

"No one is going to arrest me for knowing this information, are they?" Laura asked feeling nervous at the direction of this story.

Danny gave her a small smile, "No. They won't even know you have any information, and after today it won't matter either way. As I was saying", Danny continued, "This agency has a good objective, to rid the world of ghosts, but they are going about it the wrong way. The ghosts mainly reside in an alternate dimension called the ghost zone. The GIW want to destroy this dimension, therefore destroying all ghosts, but they've miscalculated."

Laura was leaning forward in her chair unconsciously in her interest. She thought the youngest, now only, Fenton was stupid. Apparently that wasn't the case. "They are trying to destroy a whole dimension?" She asked.

Danny nodded at her, then went back to cataloging inventions. "They even have a way to do it. They were almost successful once, but you should be thankful they weren't. The GIW's miscalculation has to do with their understanding of the ghost zone. They believe it is a parallel dimension, when it isn't. If they were right they could destroy the ghost zone, and nothing would happen to anything outside that dimension, because the dimension wouldn't be in contact with ours. That's just where they made the mistake though. That dimension, the ghost zone, is in contact with our dimension. The two dimensions intersect through naturally forming portals all over the world throughout all time. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Danny asked suddenly aware of how technical he was sounding.

Laura squinted, "It think I get it, but it's pretty advanced for me."

"Here look at this." Danny tore the blueprints the the ghost gabber in half and crinkled the pieces into separate wads. He set them out on the table and grabbed a lighter. "Okay. Say this paper wad is one dimension, and this one is another." He said pointing to the two papers. "They are parallel, not touching." He lit one on fire. "This one is being destroyed right now, but the other one is safe, because the two never come in contact." Then he slid the other wad of unburned paper closer, until it was almost touching the burning one. "This is how the GIW view our worlds." Danny placed a wall of sheet metal between the pieces of paper. "They think we can just put up a wall, and we would be safe, even if our worlds were just separated by a paper thin barrier. That's where they are wrong though. Our worlds aren't parallel, they touch in many many places." Danny removed the sheet metal and let the untouched piece of paper catch fire. "It's more extensive than that though."

Laura was amazed by this description. Danny was amazingly smart, and he was teaching her about extra dimensional mechanics. "What do you mean it's more extensive?"

Danny grabbed another blueprint, the Fenton Phones. He pointed to one side, "This is earth, or as the ghosts call it, the human zone." Then he flipped the paper and pointed to it. "This side is the ghost zone, or as the ghosts call it evermore. This is what happens when you burn evermore." He lit the page on fire from the ghost zone side, and Laura watched in as the page burned.

"So what does that mean? Why does that mean you need to work here?" Laura asked.

"The GIW don't yet understand that destroying the ghost zone would destroy earth. Eventually they will learn, if they don't destroy our dimension first, but for now they are ignorant. I'm working to save as much of my parents work as possible before the GIW realize that this lab, full of technologies they would use to destroy the ghost zone, is unprotected. Without my parents here they could snatch up this lab faster than I can blink, so I need to get as much of the dangerous inventions secured as quickly as possible." Danny concluded.

In Laura's basic understanding from what she had learned the only conclusion was that Danny needed time so he could save the world. "Can I help?"

"What?" Danny froze while throwing blueprints into a metal can.

"I said can I help. It seems to me that you're saving the world, and I want to help." Laura said. She laughed as her words registered with the icy eyed boy, who flushed pink with embarrassment.

"Umm, yeah. I guess. I've done the first two steps, but this place has a long way to go." Danny said.

"Okay boss. What's next?"

"Well I, we need to burn all the blueprints. Why don't you work on that while I fetch a bag from upstairs?" Danny said.

The two of them work well past midnight, but once they were done all the the inventions were packed away into storage devices in a bag, and there was nothing left in the lab save the unplugged portal. Danny lead Laura upstairs and after some tea he bid her goodnight and good bye. Then he went down stairs one more time and let loose a highly concentrated ectoblast that melted the portal until it was a puddle on the floor. He got everything he needed or wanted off the lab computer and then melted that too.

That was it. Everything was either melted, in a storage device, or on his computer. The lab was gone, and Danny wasn't sure how to feel about it. On one hand seeing the lab so bare made Danny want to cry again, but on the other there was also a sense of satisfaction that seemed to just barely lessen his grief. At least it was done, and now he could sleep. Danny fell asleep almost before his head reached his pillow, and he stayed in a dreamless sleep through the night.


	2. Goodbye Fenton

_Hello everyone. I just wanted to thank you all for the favorites, follows, and reviews. I really enjoyed reading your comments, and I got such a huge response to this story that I decided to post this next chapter early. So here it is, I hope you enjoy the newest chapter._

**Chapter 2**

Danny woke up thinking it was too quiet. Usually Jazz would have woken him up by now, if he wasn't up because of an explosion in the lab. The lab. With that thought everything came rushing back. He remembered packing the lab, then Laura, then the accident, and finally with crushing clarity he remembered they were dead. His parents, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker were all dead. It wasn't until Danny heard the pathetic sobbing noise that he realized he was crying. He rubbed his eyes angrily. He didn't have time for that yet. He still had things to do.

The first thing he did was enter Jazz's room. Danny's mouth turned down in a permanent frown as he moved to the side of her bed. Neatly tucked behind the drawer of her night stand was a journal. There was a matching journal under the draw in her desk. The one in the night stand was her diary, and the one in her desk was a Danny scrapbook. Both things if found would give away Danny's secret, but there was nothing else in the room that he needed. He took Bear Burt, Jazz's stuffed bear, and left the room.

Danny took off flying invisibly in ghost form. He went through Sam and Tucker's rooms in similar fashion, taking a token from each place, and ridding it of evidence. Then he returned home. It was only noon, but Danny knew he didn't have long. He packed his room last, and finished just as the doorbell rang. It was a blond hispanic woman with surprisingly enough Jeremy Manson.

"Jeremy? I wasn't expecting anyone. Why don't you and your friend come in?" Danny invited them in a perfectly polite voice. If Danny's eyes weren't red and puffy Jeremy would have sworn nothing was wrong.

"Thank you, Danny." They followed the boy to the kitchen table. After they sat down Jeremy said, "Danny, I want you to meet Melissa. Melissa is a good friend of mine and is a social worker."

Danny and Melissa shook hands. "It's nice to meet you Melissa. I'm assuming you are aware of my situation then."

Melissa nodded and spoke with a nice soothing voice, "Yes. I'm sorry for you loss, Danny. What happen yesterday was tragic?"

Danny found himself curious, though dreading the answer. "Out of curiosity, was it on the news this morning? I didn't have the heart to look." Melissa gave Danny a sad smile that was all the answer he needed.

Jeremy said, "I wish I had your sense Danny. I started this morning like any other and turned on the news only for images of the casualties to appear on screen." Danny grimaced in sympathy. "That's not why we're here though. I actually put Melissa on your case for a specific reason."

"Oh?" Danny rose one eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"I know this is kind of sudden. I mean we don't know much about each other, but we both lost pretty much everyone, and you have no where to go, and I think I know where you should go-" Jeremy rambled.

"Jeremy, you are right. I don't know you well, but even I know it's unlike you to ramble." Danny stopped him.

"Yeah sorry." The blond widow apologized. "I, well what I was trying to say is, what would you think about me adopting you."

Danny gaped, but eventually said, "I would like that." Jeremy broke out in a grin. He liked Danny. Danny was smart, resourceful, brave, and ambitious, and when Jeremy learned he was a Potter the thought of adoption crossed Jeremy's mind, and almost immediately that is what Jeremy wanted. He'd slept on the idea, but it only sounded better in the morning.

"I'm glad." Jeremy simply replied.

"This is where I come in." Melissa said. "I came prepared with some papers you two can fill out, and that will get the adoption process started once Danny is officially registered as an orphan. There might be some complications if your parents left a designated guardian in their will though. Did they?" She asked Danny.

"Yes and no. Like I told Jeremy yesterday I tricked my dad into writing my name wrong on that portion of the will. I knew who they would leave me with, and I hate the man, so I made an effort not to let my dad leave me with him." Danny said.

Melissa was shocked, but knew there were a few things with that that could still go wrong. "I need to know what your legal name is, so we don't make the same mistakes. Also how did you get your father to misspell his son's name?"

Danny chuckled, "Well it helps that my dad was a bit forgetful. You see my name legally is Daniel James Potter. I was adopted when I was very little, but my parent's never went through the legal paperwork to adopt me properly. I've gone by the name Danny Fenton for almost as long as I can remember, but on official documents I've always gone by Daniel Potter. I tricked my dad, because he'd never think of me as anything other than a Fenton, so when he was writing that part of the will I distracted him and gave him a bunch of subliminal messages that made him forget to write Potter instead of Fenton."

"Subliminal messages?" Jeremy asked. He was curious how Danny managed that.

"Yeah, I just made sure to include as many words, that rhymed with Fenton, in our conversation as I could. Gun, one, stun, ton were all words I used, then I used a few words that rhymed with fudge. That made my dad start thinking about fudge, and because I was feeding him words that sounded like Fenton, he wrote Fenton." Danny explained, "It's not actually that hard to do."

"Where did you learn that?" Melissa asked in a polite tone. Danny was nothing like she expected of a boy who just lost his closest friends and family. She had seen more than her fair share of orphans and they were always closed off and introvertive, even the most outgoing kids clammed up for a few days after they lost someone close. Danny wasn't like that though and he lost so much more than anyone she'd ever dealt with before, this kid lost all of his family. Still though Danny seemed perfectly polite and even pleasant. There was no hint of grief in the way he talked about his family only fondness. Melissa asked a simple question, but her curiosity about this boy was anything but simple.

Danny's answer made both of the adults present laugh. "TV. I learned that from white collar." Danny smiled, much to the amazement of his social worker, and reminded them, "Weren't we talking about adoption though?"

"Right back to business then. I believe your well placed mistake will keep… I'm sorry who was the man your father signed as your guardian?" Melissa asked frowning.

Danny sighed he'd been avoiding Vlad's name on purpose. "Vlad Masters, and yes I mean the mayor." Danny elaborated before they could ask.

"But I thought you said the man was a bad person? I don't understand." Jeremy said.

"I did say the man who wanted to become my guardian was a bad person, and I stand by that statement. Vlad Masters is the most manipulative person I know. I know for a fact he used illegal means to obtain his wealth, and I know that he wanted my father dead, and even went as far as to hire ghosts to come after Jack. I of course can't prove anything, and even if I had proof most authorities would probably be overshadowed by a ghost working for Vlad." Danny noticed what he said caused both the adults in front of him to go wide eyed and slack jawed, so he concluded quickly. "It's of no matter. There is nothing Vlad will be able to do about this adoption by the time he learns of it. I was well prepared should anything have happened to my parents, so I've delayed him to the point where he won't start anything until we're almost done." Danny wasn't lying, not long after he told Vlad about the technicality in the will Danny released a virus into Vlad's computer systems. It was designed by Tucker not to long ago as a last resort for multiple scenarios. It was ghost proof to be able to take down skulker or technus, but it was subtle enough to go undetected for days.

Melissa just shook her head. She decided she was better off not knowing more about the boy and his secrets and slid the required paperwork over. "I think I've heard enough. Just sign here and here, and ignore this up here. As soon as you become registered as an orphan this will have already gone through, and then I'll submit Mr. Manson's papers. I can probably have you adopted by the end of the day considering the Manson's reputation." (AN: I know that the real process is much slower, but since I know nothing about the adoption process I'm just going to make the time shorter to move the story along.) Melissa then slid the papers Jeremy needed to him. "If you are sure about this just fill out this sheet and keep the other as reference. If you come with me I can have this done as quickly as possible."

Danny and Jeremy quickly filled out their individual forms and after just a few minutes Melissa packed everything back up. She stood up ready to leave, but stopped to say, "Danny I know it's sudden, but you might want to get packed and your possessions in order. Fenton Works will become a frozen asset under your name by the time this all sorts out."

Danny looked to the door to the lab sadly. "I already have. I didn't sleep well last night, so I kept myself busy." Technically that was a lie, but no one needed to know that.

After that Jeremy and Melissa left, and Danny knew the next time he saw the man Jeremy would be his guardian. Danny thought back to the man's rambling before Jeremy asked if Danny would like Jeremy to adopt him. Jeremy said a lot of things. He spoke about them not knowing each other well, but also about how Danny had nowhere to go, and how Jeremy had an idea of where Danny should go. It made Danny curious about what his parents names had revealed to the blond man. He had never gotten an answer last night to his questions, but everyone was so caught up in grief nothing else seemed to matter at the moment. Danny supposed he'd just have to wait until the next time he saw Mr. Manson to ask about his parents.

Danny knew Melissa said everything would be sorted out by the end of the day, but he almost laughed when the GIW agents O and K showed up at his door with Jeremy, just as he was finishing dinner. The agents came in with the deed to the property and all the equipment in the lab. For some reason they weren't interested in the Opscenter, so Danny decided to lock that and leave it inaccessible where it was. Other than that Jeremy told Danny the final paperwork was scheduled to be signed in the morning, but until then Danny could move in now, since the GIW were confiscating the building.

Danny was glad he'd prepared and grabbed two large duffle bags and a massive trunk from his room. One bag had all of his belongings, his clothes, posters, and first aid kit were all in that bag. The second bag had everything he was taking from his sister, his parents, and Sam and Tuck. The trunk was full of all the packed inventions Danny wanted to keep, or at least keep away from the GIW.

It didn't take long for Danny to carry his luggage down to the car, even when he pretended to struggle with it. He would have done a better acting job on any other occasion, but this was likely the last time he'd see Fenton Works for a while. Danny tried not to cry as Jeremy's chauffeur drove them the the manor, but he couldn't stop a few tears from escaping his tired eyes. Something about leaving his childhood home was so final. It was a part of his life he was saying goodbye to, because they were no longer here to support that life. The people who made that his home were gone, so he left. It was unbearably sad.

The drive was quiet, but when they got to the mansion Jeremy broke the silence. "Danny, I need to talk to you before you unpack." Danny didn't acknowledge Jeremy by anything other than following the man to his study. They both sat down and Jeremy started, "When you told me the name of your biological parent I almost didn't believe you?" Danny looked confused, but he didn't say anything electing to let Jeremy finish. "You asked me if your parents were famous and the truth is they are."

"What do you mean!? I've never heard of them! And the my parents looked everywhere for information on anyone named Potter. They couldn't find anything." Danny said more confused than ever.

"This is going to take some explaining, so I'd like you to listen and hold off on your questions, if you can." Jeremy warned. Danny nodded so the man continued. "There is a society of people that hides itself from normal people. This society is made up of magical people who are witches and wizards, and it spans the globe." Jeremy stopped to think of how best to continue.

Danny interrupted his thoughts by saying, "Prove it."

"Huh?" Jeremy replied intelligently.

"Prove that magic is real." Danny said.

"Oh well that's the easy bit." Jeremy pulled a wand from a magically hidden pocket on his shirt. "This" he said showing the willow wand, "is a wand. Witches and wizards, like me, use these as a tool to concentrate and control our natural magic." He flicked his wand and a tea kettle appeared mid air. It poured some tea into a pair of conjured glasses before popping out of existence. "Would you like some tea?" Jeremy offered Danny one of the glasses.

Danny surprised Jeremy once again by calmly saying, "Thank you" , while taking the tea. He didn't even seem a little phazed by the magic display.

"You seem to be taking this in stride." Jeremy said with a raised eyebrow.

Danny shrugged, "I can think of three ways what you just did is scientifically possible, but I don't think, even with all your money, you would have devised something so elaborate. Frankly I find it easier to believe you used magic."

"Well okay then." Jeremy wondered when the boy would stop surprising him. "I'm telling you about this secret society, known as the wizarding world, because your parents are a famous witch and wizard. They are famous, because they are the last people to ever die at the hands of a dark wizard commonly known as You-Know-Who, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He was so evil that people still fear to speak his name, twelve years after his downfall."

"Wait so my parents are famous for dying? That seems kind of stupid." Danny said frowning.

"Well not exactly. You see, Danny, they are more famous because of how You-Know-Who met his end." Jeremy sighed. "It's not a happy tale, but it's better you know." Jeremy warned.

"I can handle it." Danny said. The confidence in the boys voice encouraged Jeremy.

"At the height of his power, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, started hunting your parents for an unknown reason. His purpose was well known though. He was going to murder them. They were hidden, and survived for a long time, but one night You-Know-Who found the Potters. He killed your parents, and then he turned to your brother." Jeremy was cut off.

"I had a brother!?" Danny asked suddenly.

"Not had, have. You see that is what makes the Potter name so famous. You-Know-Who turned his wand on your twin brother, Harry Potter, and he cast the curse that had instantly killed everyone who it ever touched. Then the unimaginable happened. Somehow the spell rebounded, killing You-Know-Who instead of young Harry Potter." Jeremy said.

"So I have a living twin brother? How could I not know about this!?" Danny exclaimed.

"I don't know Danny. I do however know that until you told me your name I thought you were dead. Your body was never found, but people believed you were dead." Jeremy explained.

Danny stayed silent for a couple minutes taking in all the information. Then he said, "So my parents were a witch and wizard who were murdered by a dark wizard, who was killed by a curse that rebounded when he tried to kill my twin brother, who survived. And until now I was thought by all the magical world to be dead while my brother lived on without me. So what happened to him, and does this make me a wizard?" Danny concluded.

"Well yes. And I do think you are a wizard. It would make sense, especially since your brother is. There is an easy test to make sure though." Jeremy handed Danny his wand, "Here. Just point that away from me and give it a wave." Danny did as instructed and jumped when the seat next to him caught fire. Jeremy took the wand back and magically put out the flames and repaired the damaged fabric. "That proves it. If you had no magic the wand wouldn't have done anything. Now for your other question. From what I know your brother lives with your muggle aunt and uncle-"

"Muggle?" Danny questioned.

"It's what we call non-magical people. Anyway", he continued, "Harry lives with your aunt and uncle in Little Wingding, London, England. He will be starting his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year, and he is happy and well as far as I know. I don't know anything else seeing as I'm a little out of the loop when it comes to wizard pop culture. Everything I know, I know from letters I get from my family back in the UK." Jeremy said. The man watched as the boy silently thought over all he had learned. Jeremy wanted to let Danny think everything through, but eventually he broke the thoughtful silence again. "Danny it's getting late, but before I show you to your room, I want to give you a few options to think over."

Danny nodded, "Okay, what is it, Jeremy."

"You could stay here and continue your muggle education as you have, and I could tutor you in magic. You need to learn at least the basics to control your magic. The other option is more drastic, but I think the better one in the long run. We could go to London. You would then be tutored by teachers for the rest of the summer to catch you up on your studies, and when the time came you could attend Hogwarts with your brother. I know that would be a big change, but I think considering that you have twin brother you've never met I think that is the better option." Jeremy said.

Danny was in shock from all the information, but he couldn't think of a reason to stay in Amity and more. "I agree. The second option is better."

"Well don't answer me so soon. Think about it over night, and tell me what you want to do in the morning."Jeremy said.

"Why? I have nothing here in Amity any more. I have one friendly acquaintance left, and even she doesn't talk to me much. Other than that, all that's left here are bullies and memories. I have no reason to stay here, and every reason to go to London. And I would like to meet Harry." Danny insisted.

Jeremy frowned. He thought Danny would need more time to consider, but what the boy said made sense. There really wasn't much to consider. "Well I then, if you're sure, we can go take you out of the school systems tomorrow, and instead of unpacking you can just leave your stuff as is. I'll make the arrangements."

"Thank you for all of this Jeremy." Danny said standing. "I'm really glad you adopted me. I know I'm better off than I would have been.

Jeremy smiled sadly, "No need to thank me Danny. After all you are helping me, by giving me a purpose, just as much as I'm helping you." Jeremy stood and walked Danny up the stairs to a room across from Sam's. "This will be your room while we're here."

The room was obscenely large, like the rest of the mansion, but Danny couldn't find it in himself to care. He bid Jeremy goodnight and fell into bed sleeping immediately. It had been a trying day.

_Sam's amethyst eyes were alight with passion as she said, "They just can't accept me for who I am! They want me to be some perfect princess/shallow witch like paulina!" Sam whisper shouted. She'd been complaining about her parents chaperoning the trip ever since they discovered the adults were coming. It didn't help matters any when Sam caught her mom Pamela chatting fashion with Paulina, the queen bee of casper high._

_Said queen bee overheard Sam call her a shallow witch, "What did you say!?" Paulina immediately stood up in front of Sam. Sam rose to the challenge literally, standing up from her seat. Neither girl seemed to notice that they were in a bus that was going 65mph on the freeway. _

_Star ever the loyal satellite to Paulina stood up to back her friend, while Tucker tried to pull Sam back into her seat and Danny tried to break the girls up. It was a mess and the commotion caught the attention of the adults on the bus. Jack and Maddie, Danny's parents, came over with Danny's sister Jazz to try and regain order. Sam's parents, Jeremy and Pamela Manson, also came over, but they were berating their daughter for instigating a fight._

_Suddenly the bus jerked, knocking the standing people over. Jeremy landed in a seat, but he was the only one so lucky. Danny got the worst of it knocking into the metal corner on a bench and giving himself a concussion. Everything then became, somehow at the same time, both more clear, and more blurred through Danny's perspective. He heard a loud truck horn and a mechanical screech, then the semi hit them. Jeremy was tossed to the floor his arm scraped roughly against the seat. Paulina and Star screamed, but suddenly cut off when they hit their heads. Maddie broke her neck, and a piece of metal sliced through Jack's side. Pamela was still on the ground, so she hit her head like Paulina and Star. Sam and Tucker had better reflexes from ghosthunting with Danny, and they were trying to stand when the truck hit. They were thrown into the air, Sam came down on a bench with a sickening crack, Danny didn't see where she landed, but he knew she was dead. Tucker hit his head on the ceiling of the bus, and Danny's side slammed into the seat next to him._

_Then everything stopped. Immediately Danny stood, ignoring his nausea, and started checking the pulses of the people who looked better. They were all dead, but then he heard his name softly called from the back of the bus. Half under the seat Jazz laying in a rapidly growing puddle of blood. Her breath was shuddering as she tried to stay awake. Danny took off his outer t-shirt and pressed it to Jazz's bleeding stomach. "Shh. Jazz, it's going to be okay. You're going to be okay." Danny said rapidly. He was already starting to heal thanks to his ghost powers._

"_D-dan-ny." Jazz coughed. "You w-will always b-be m-my hero."_

_Danny felt like her words were tearing his heart apart. "No! Don't talk like you're already dead!" He yelled. Then his voice broke as he said, "You can't leave me alone! Please. It's not over!"_

_Jazz gave Danny a loving smile despite her pain. "I love you, l-little b-brother. Don't g-give up. Promise" Jazz didn't need to clarify, Danny knew what she meant._

_Be force of shear will Danny didn't cry, he didn't want to blur his vision, because he knew it was going to be the last time he ever spoke to Jazz. "I love you too, sis." His last words came as a broken sob. "I p-promise." Jazz smiled and her breathing became less labored before she let out a long breath and stilled. She was dead. His overprotective, nosey, annoying, big sister was dead. _

Danny woke up with tears streaming down his face and his sister's last words on his mind. "Don't give up. Promise." He had promised, but they were gone. He curled into a ball and sobbed. He didn't know how long he cried, but after a while someone set a hand on his shoulder. He quickly rolled out of bed and flipped backwards into a fighting position, his tears didn't stop though. He blinked his eyes and then dropped his defencive stance when he saw Ida standing next to his bed. His tears slowed and Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I-I'm sorry Nana Ida."

Ida sat there with a shocked expression on her face, but then she just shook her head. "I came to wake you up. Breakfast is ready."

"R-right." Danny cleared his throat. "Sorry. I'll be right down." Danny said.

Ida just nodded, "Mm hmm. I'll see you in a moment then." The old speed demon zipped away in her electric chair. Danny smiled at the old woman's antics. He knew she was doing it just to cheer him up, but it was working. He grabbed a black longsleeve t-shirt and a dark gray hoodie and his tooth brush and went to the bathroom next to his room. A few minutes later Danny was fully dressed and downstairs. They were having pancakes and tofu bacon in memory of Sam who was an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, basically she didn't eat anything with a face. The mood at the table was somber, but once breakfast was done Jeremy left the dished for the maids and followed Ida into the sun room. It was Sam's favorite room because it overlooked her father's garden. Finally after sitting in silence for a while Ida turned to Jeremy and Danny and said, "I'm coming with you."

"What?" Jeremy was completely confused, but Danny knew what she meant. Danny had expected this.

"I may or may not have overheard your conversation last night, and I'm coming with you to London." Ida said.

"But Ida-" Jeremy started.

Ida cut him off, "Don't you but Ida me! I'm a 97 year old woman and I don't have long left on this earth. I know this, and I was happy in the knowledge that I would die surrounded by family." Ida's normal strong voice tapered off as she tried not to cry, "Now" she sniffed, "You're all I have left."

"I wasn't telling you you couldn't come Ida." Jeremy reassured her with a sad tone.

"You weren't?" Ida asked in a small voice.

"I was going to ask what your plans for the house was. It's too large to sell it easily. But if we just leave it here with no one to watch it then it will fall apart." Jeremy said.

"Oh." Ida said wiping her eyes.

Danny then said, "Why don't we leave it in someone's care?"

"That is a nice thought Danny, but no one in this town would be responsible enough to take care of a home this size." Jeremy said and Ida nodded agreeing.

Danny scratched his head thinking, as sad as in was he couldn't think of anyone who would work. The Foley's were responsible, but they didn't want to move. Most the people in the town would just end up selling the old mansion anyway. What he needed was someone who needed a house, preferably someone who was used to money, who was responsible. "I got it."

"What do you have?" Ida asked still sniffling.

"I know someone who recently came on hard times, who used to be fairly wealthy. They are responsible, hard workers, and you can trust them not to sell the mansion, because they need a house. Even better, because they used to be wealthy they know how to take care of a place like this." Danny said.

"I'm waiting." Jeremy's impatience leaked into his voice. "Who is it?"

"Damian and Valerie Grey." Danny said. "They are perfect. They are both hard workers with good morals and are self motivated to improve their living standard."

"I can't say I know the Greys well, but you make a compelling argument." Jeremy admitted.

"How do you know the Greys, Danny?" Ida asked.

Danny replied, "Valerie was kicked out of the popular group at school when her family lost their wealth. No one would even approach her for fear of lowering themselves on the social ladder. I knew what it was like to be an outcast though, so me, Sam, and Tucker invited her to our group. We became good friends and even dated for a while."

Jeremy stopped Danny, " Wait wait wait. Weren't you in love with my daughter?"

Danny blushed furiously. "I didn't love her!" Danny shouted out of habit, but then he stopped. The room was silent for a moment as Danny thought over the question again. Was he in love with Sam? The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was. Danny said quietly, "I, didn't know, I loved her." He sighed and continued louder ignoring the awkward moment after his shout, "I acted on a crush, because a pretty girl liked me."

Ida chuckled, "Not as clueless as I thought."

"Why does everyone call me clueless!?" Danny threw his hands up in exasperation.

Ignoring Danny's outburst, Jeremy said, "It can't hurt to ask them. After all that's the best idea we've had." Jeremy turned to Danny, "If I didn't know better I'd say you inherited the Fenton genius. Remind me again why you get terrible grades?" Danny blushed and mumbled something about after school activities. "So video games then." Jeremy answered his own question. "Anyway," Jeremy got back on track, "Danny we have to go. We're going in and signing the last paper to finish the adoption, then we're going to your family's funeral." Danny nodded solemnly and went to follow Jeremy.

Ida called after them, "I'll meet you at the church."

They took a personal car this time, leaving the chauffeur and the black sedan at the mansion. The ride was short, and the thoughtful silence made the trip seem shorter. Before Danny knew it they were pulling in to a small parking lot in front of a long one story office building. They parked and Danny made to get out when Jeremy grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

Jeremy looked at the ebony haired boy. Just two days ago he'd seen this boy laughing with Tucker and his daughter Samantha. Then the boy had looked to him like any other geek. He remembered thinking how normal Danny seemed for living in such a strange household. Then the boy had little shadows under his eyes from staying up late, probably playing video games with Tucker and Sam. He had messy black hair and baggy clothes that matched the careless nature of the boy, but he seemed so cheerful. Danny had changed so little, and so much in two days. The dark shadows under his eyes, from staying up late, were probably caused by nightmares. He still had his messy hair and baggy clothes, but the clothes were darker, black, and Danny's lanky frame and slumped shoulders could no longer fool Jeremy into thinking Danny was just another weak geek. He knew the muscle those clothes hid. Comparing the boy from then with the boy he knew now, Jeremy wondered at the difference two days could make.

"When we go in there, they probably won't ask too many questions, but they are going to ask you to write your new name." Jeremy said.

"New name? Am I supposed to write Daniel James Manson then?" Danny asked.

"You can if you want to, but no. It just means that whatever you write, that will from that moment on be your legal name. You could write Daniel James Manson, or Daniel James Potter. You could hyphenate the names. You could even write Fenton, but I suggest you stick with the name you've always had." Jeremy explained.

"Why shouldn't I write Daniel James Fenton or Manson? Why stay Potter?" Danny asked again. He wasn't against the idea, but he didn't see the downside of straying from Potter.

"I think you should stick with Potter, because everyone in the wizarding world, regardless of how you change your name in the muggle world, will know you as Daniel James Potter. It could become annoying to keep two names separate for the muggle and wizard worlds." Jeremy said.

Danny chuckled at the irony. Jeremy of course didn't know he already had a second identity. That didn't make what Jeremy said any less true though. It was difficult to keep his identities separate, but it wasn't like Danny didn't have practice. Danny would have to think this through. This decision would influence him for life, and it wasn't a big change, but it was pretty much forever.

There were reasons Danny wanted to go with each name. Danny wanted to stay Potter, not just for convenience, but for respect to his birth parents and his brother, who was still alive. Then there was Fenton. If he wrote Fenton, he could make sure people knew who his parents were, no matter where he was. He could become a Fenton legally. There was a draw to the name Manson too. Danny was very grateful to Jeremy for taking him in and telling Danny about his biological parents. There was so much Jeremy had done in the last two days, and so much he was still doing, and planned to do. Danny wanted to honor him somehow. If the name wasn't so long Danny would just write Daniel James Fenton Manson Potter, but that was five names, and too long.

Danny thought about his options for a while, and once he made up his mind he told Jeremy he was ready, and they walked through the glass doors of the adoption agency. Jeremy walked up to a counter, and the woman behind it signed them in and asked them to wait there in the lobby. The room was a bland cream, with four gray cushioned folding chairs. There wasn't any plants or extra decorations, but everything looked new. Danny thought that was probably because of things constantly being replaced after ghost attacks.

Jeremy and Danny didn't have to wait long. The secretary called Jeremy's name and gave told them to go to office D. They walked around a corner and saw a long room filled with six cubicle offices. Office D was in the back right, so they walked up, and were greeted by a plain man in a suit. He had brown hair and eyes, and a smile plastered on that seemed extremely fake. "Hello. You must be Mr. Manson, and Daniel Potter." the man said.

"Yes, I am." Jeremy said shaking the man's hand. Danny just nodded.

"I'm Mr. Cade. I know you likely have places to be, so I won't drag this out. I'm just here to finalize your legal documents and print your copies." The grinning man said. Then he asked Danny some questions, just double checking general facts like date of birth, and previous address. Once that was done he printed out two pages. The first page was just Danny's information, but the second was the adoption page. Mr. Cade handed the first page to Jeremy, but the second to Danny. "The first page will allow you to access the documents that would normally only be seen by his parents. Things like his birth certificate and social security card. The second page", he said looking to Danny, "Is the adoption page. It just states that you, Mr. Manson, are adopting Daniel James Fenton, and then it asks you both to sign your name. Mr. Potter, realise that whatever name you write, that will be your legal name from now on."

Danny nodded nervous, and Jeremy said, "Yes I explained this part to Danny just a few minutes ago. Here," Jeremy took the page from Danny. "I'll sign my part first." Jeremy scribbled his name on a line and then slid the page back to Danny. "Just write your name, whatever you want, here." Jeremy said pointing to the next line down and handing the pen to Danny.

Danny took the pen and took a deep breath before writing, Daniel Fenton Manson Potter. Jeremy was surprised when he saw the name Manson written on the page, but he was touched that the boy took his name.

"Okay, may I see that?" Mr. Cade took the page from Danny and scanned it into the computer before giving the page back. "That will be your copy, make sure to keep it safe, and I wish you luck in your new home Daniel Fenton Manson Potter."

"Thank you." Danny mumbled before Jeremy and him walked back to the car.

They got in the car, and Jeremy drove them to the park. They got out to walk, and Jeremy asked, "Just out of curiousity, how did you choose your name?"

"It wasn't easy." Danny was quiet for a second, then he continued. "In my previous name, my middle name was for my father, who died trying to save me. My last name was and is the name I share with my brother, so I wanted to keep that. I changed my middle name to Fenton, because I've always been a Fenton, and in part I'll always be a Fenton. I actually didn't plan on writing Manson at first, but you've done so much for me, you're still doing so much. I just didn't feel right discluding you. I've been Fenton, and now my last name is Potter, but you are the person taking care of me."  
"Thank you. You didn't have to do that, but it's kind that you did." Jeremy said. They walked in companionable silence for a while, but then Jeremy sighed. "We need to head to the church now. Your parents' and sister's funeral is starting in an hour."

Danny was silent, but started walking back the way they came. Jeremy studied the boy's face, but couldn't find any emotion. The blank look worried him.

When Jeremy told Danny the funeral was in an hour Danny's mind started to replay memories of his family. Danny's face slipped into a blank mask he used to hide his emotions when his secret was in danger while he remembered. Danny thought about the good times. His dad going on and on about ghost, his mom taking out the mutant ghost animals with her bow staff, his sister jumping out with a Fenton Thermos and actually getting a ghost that wasn't him. Danny also thought of all the lies and the secrets. His dad telling him how his newest invention would finally let him capture the ghost boy and tear him apart molecule by molecule. His mom calling ghosts unfeeling ectoplasmic manifestations of post human consciousness. His sister capturing him in the Fenton Thermos. There were so many memories, yet so few if you considered that he'd never create another memory of them. They were gone.

This wasn't the first, or second time he faced losing his parents. He lost Lily and James before, but he was so young he barely remembered anything. Then there was the nasty burger explosion when Clockwork saved everyone from Dark Dan Plasmius. That had given him nightmares, but he got over it, because it technically never happened. Last time they lived, but this time they were really gone. He thought maybe his experience with death would help him, that he could handle it, but they didn't even know he was Danny Phantom. Danny never told them, and now he would never know if they could accept him, ghost or not.

Danny's thoughts continued their downward spiral all the way to the church. His face during the process stayed blank in the mask he saved for emergencies. Jeremy was saddened to see the twelve year old like this. (AN: Yes I know I've been saying he's thirteen, but I realized if he's Harry's twin, ending his school year, and heading into the third year of hogwarts, then Danny has to be twelve.) Hell anyone acting like this would worry Jeremy, but a twelve-year-old child with a blank mask like that scared him almost as much as the scars on Danny's torso did.

When he stopped the car Danny seemed to come out of his trance his mask cracking into a teary eyed frown. Jeremy was relieved to see emotion in Danny's face again. Then without a word they walked past the church to the cemetery behind it.

Danny had never been to a funeral before. (AN:Thankfully neither have I.) The priest spoke of how Jack, Madelyn, and Jasmine were wonderful brilliant people. They were good parents and a good sister. It wasn't as long as Danny expected, but he was glad that part was short. Then he asked if anyone wanted to say something about the Fentons. A few people looked to Danny, who had still managed not to cry, but he waited to see if someone else would go first. His adopted aunt Alicia tried to give a short speech, but she only lasted a few short minutes before she was bawling and had to stop. One of Jazz's few close friends stood and gave a nice little speech about how generous Jazz was. After she walked back into the crowd Danny waited a few seconds more for someone else to go, but when no one did he walked forward

He stood in front of the gathering of people. In the front there was the Foleys, the Mansons, Vlad, and Maddie's sister Alicia. Behind them there was a mixture of Jazz's friends, and people from around the neighborhood. In the far back there were a few fellow ghost hunters and scientists that had worked at some point with Fenton Works. Altogether there weren't many people who knew Danny's family personally, but there were many who wanted to pay their respects.

Danny took a deep breath and started. "My family was well known by this town, not because of wealth or political involvement, but because everyone thought they were insane." There was a small chuckle in the audience. "My parents and sister were always embarrassing me. Dad and Mom were known for their ghost hunting, and Jazz was always trying to psychoanalyze the people around her. No one, not even me, could say anyone in my family was normal, but I wouldn't have ever changed any aspect of them.

"My dad has been called a fumbling, obsessed, loud buffoon, and he was. He was a fumbling goofball, always getting distracted with new discoveries, and he was excited to show me and Jazz every one. He was obsessed with ghosts. He and my mom were ridiculed for their belief in ghosts, but they stayed with their passion until they proved the rest of the world wrong. They used their immense genius and imagination to prove the existence of beings previously thought to be myths, and then when those same beings attacked us they were always in the front line protecting our town and even at times our world. Jack Fenton was loud, exuberant, energetic, and loving. There wasn't a moment in his life where he was dispassionate about anything, and there wasn't a person who loved their family as much as my father did.

"Most people don't know that the Fentons adopted me when I was barely one, and my father was one of those people. Sometimes I genuinely think he forgot that he wasn't there when I was born, and there was never a day where I was anything but Danny Fenton to him. It was actually a bit of a problem sometimes, because mom had to go back through any and all legal documents with my name and correct my dad when he would write Daniel Fenton.

"My mom, Maddie Fenton, she was known as the brains of the operation, and with good reason. Though she never could remember a recipe correctly, she never forgot anything else. Her mind was a well organized and functioning machine that kept everyone in the family on track. She knew where everyone was supposed to be, what they needed to be doing, and how it needed to be done, for every member of my crazy family. She helped Jazz study, helped me keep my sometimes very busy schedule, and at the same time invented ghost technologies and hunted ghosts with my dad. My mom loved us, and she showed that by giving all of her time to help us accomplish our goals. She loved us and inspired us." Danny had kept a strong voice through his speech so far. He knew he didn't say enough about either of his parents, but how could you do justice to such wonderful people in such a short time.

Danny had kept himself composed through the speech about his parents, but now he'd come to Jazz, and he wasn't so sure he could do it. He looked up to see the first and second row in tears as well as some of the neighbors. Vlad was trying and failing to stop weeping. Danny breathed a long shuddering breath before he continued. "I loved my family, all of them, but I was especially close with Jazz. My life wouldn't be what it is today without Jazz. Through all the insanity of my family Jazz always looked out for me. When we were little we would get picked on and bullied for our parents profession, and it was difficult to make friends. Instead of being concerned over her own lack of friends Jazz only held concern for me. She was always worried that I didn't have friends, and being the nosey sister she always was, she decided to make me friends for me. I remember all the awkward introductions and scenarios that Jazz got me into while trying to make me friends. I was so embarrassed by her, but eventually it worked, and it was because of Jazz that I met my best friend Tucker. I think her success with forcing me to make a friend is what made Jazz decide to be a psychologist.

"Once Jazz had her first success, as she called it, she became determined that she would help people. She researched and learned everything she could on the subject, and subjected us all to her practice sessions. It was so annoying most the time, because she would always look at a situation and think about how it would affect those people in the future, and she was never shy about telling someone they were doing something that would have a negative impact. She did it to me most, because she never stopped looking out for me. She knew me better than I know myself, and I could never get anything past her for long.

"More than ever I've needed my sister lately." Danny took another shuddering breath, trying to keep himself together. "I started down a dangerous path to protect the people around me, and this made me lie, a lot. I couldn't lie to Jazz though. She was the only person to ever discover anything was wrong, the only person to see past my lies and my masks. I was irritated at my sister nosing into my business at first, but after she discovered my secrets I became so grateful to her. There were times when things got really tough, and Jazz always pulled me into her room and forced me to talk to her about it. I think without her those times might have driven me insane, and not the good kind like the rest of my family. My sister kept me as balanced mentally as my mom kept my life, and she was as overprotective of me as my dad. When there was no one I could talk to or ask for help, I could go to Jazz."

Danny didn't know how his voice wasn't shaking yet with the effort to hold back tears, but he knew he needed to wrap up before he started bawling like most people were by this point. "I loved my family, and their obsessions, and their insanity. I still love them. They were amazing people who did amazing things in their lives, and it's a tragedy that their lives were cut short, because they still had so much more to offer the world. Their lives affected everyone around them, and the world changed for the worse when they died." Danny finished speaking and moved back to his seat next to Jeremy.

The priest who saw most of the people in tears, or with swollen eyes, came forward again he finished his part of the ceremony. People then walked forward to place flowers on the coffins, starting with Danny. Danny walked forward stiffly and placed a white lily on Jazz's coffin. Her grave stone read, "A loved sister, daughter, and aspiring psychologist." On Jack's coffin Danny placed a red california poppy. His grave read, "Beloved father, husband, and inventor." On Maddie's coffin Danny placed a violet. Her grave stone was almost identical to Jack's, reading, "Beloved mother, wife, and inventor." Danny watched the procession of people walk forward and placed flowers on the coffins before the coffins were lowered into the ground.

Each thump of a coffin reaching the bottom of a hole made Danny flinch, but he still didn't cry. The only thing that showed Danny's emotions at all was his shaking hands fisted at his sides. Danny stayed like that for a long time. He lost track of the time standing there shaking in front of the three graves. Finally Danny couldn't stop himself from crying when he felt a hand gently rest itself on his shoulder. The smallest touch shattered his cracked facade and with a gasp he buried his head in his hands and cried. He didn't notice the people leave, and he didn't see the sun set, but when Jeremy told Danny they should probably leave it was almost dark.

Danny and Jeremy finally left for the mansion and Jeremy forced Danny to eat something before going to bed. It was the end of the second day they'd been dead. It hardly seemed like it was just two days, and yet at the same time it was an eternity. It wasn't over yet though. Tomorrow was the funerals of Sam, Pamela, and Tucker.


	3. Wrapping Up Loose Ends

**Chapter 3**

It was Sunday, June 2, the third day after the Casper High accident. The day started with Sam and Pamela's funeral. It was much the same as yesterday's funeral, but there were a lot more high class rich people and goths. Danny didn't even know there were that many goths in Amity. Ida cried from the moment she stepped in the church doors. Jeremy didn't start crying until after he gave a speech. Danny didn't speak like he did yesterday, but the funeral was easier to go through because of it. It ended like yesterday's with the coffins lowered into the ground while Jeremy and Ida cried.

It was almost noon, and Danny didn't want to take Jeremy and Ida away from the graves, but Tucker's funeral was starting in an hour. Danny made his decision and told Jeremy and Ida where he was going, saying he found someone to give him a ride, and he turned into Phantom in an alley. Even with his speed it was a long distance to Tucker's funeral. He was being buried in a town just outside Amity. Tucker's funeral wasn't as formal as the other two had been, after all the Foleys didn't have billionaires paying for this funeral.

There was an open casket and everyone was left to say goodbye in their own time, and after two hours the coffin was closed and carried to the grave where it was lowered into the ground. It made the same dull thump as it reached the bottom of the grave, and Mrs. Foley burst into a fresh bout of loud tears. People filtered out and Danny stayed there silently for a long time. Finally when it was getting dark Danny walked toward the Foleys.

"Mr. and Mrs. Foley. Tucker was like a brother to me, and I'm sorry he's gone." Danny said quietly.

The couple looked up. Mr. Foley said, "Thank you." and Mrs. Foley just pulled Danny into a crushing hug.

Danny hugged her back and managed to hold back the majority of his tears. Eventually Mrs. Foley let go when a thought occurred to her. "Danny, you don't have anyone left do you? Did your parents have plans set in place? Do you know?"

Danny smiled. "I changed the plans, and made new ones."

"What do you mean you changed the plan?" Mr. Foley said frowning in worry.

"They set up a guardian for me incase anything happened, but I messed my dad up while he was writing that part of the document, because I hated the man they planned to leave me with." He saw the Foleys' worried expressions and quickly said, "Don't worry like I said, the plans changed. It was a coincidence that allowed Jeremy Manson, Sam's dad, to realize I was headed towards foster care. I was avoiding the person who my parents tried to make my guardian, and I snuck into Jeremy's hospital room. Jeremy was nice enough to let me go home with him the day of the accident, and I let it slip that I wasn't legally a Fenton." Danny was interrupted.

"Not a Fenton? Sweety what are you talking about." Mrs. Foley asked.

"Didn't you mention something about this at your family's funeral yesterday?" Mr. Manson mumbled.

Danny nodded. "My parents the Fentons, found me on their doorstep when I was just barely one. There was a letter containing a picture of my parents and my name and age."

"I never would have guessed I always thought you had the same blue eyes as Jack." Mrs. Foley said.

"Actually dad's eyes were cobalt blue, mom's were teal, and mine are icy." Danny said.

"So do you know anything else about your biological parents?" Mr. Foley asked.

"Well I didn't until two days ago. My parents looked everywhere for information on my family, but the name wasn't enough apparently, because they never found anything."  
"So how did you learn more in the last two days?" Mr. Foley questioned.

"Jeremy Manson. It turns out my biological parents were famously murdered in a small british town, and Jeremy just happened to have heard of it. He told me my parents were killed by a serial killer who liked to murder families." Danny was interrupted.

Mr. Foley said, "That's interesting and all, but what does it have to do with your plans?"

Danny ignored the question and continued, "The story is that the man went in and killed my parents and then went to the nursery where after killing one of a set of twins mysteriously disappeared leaving the other boy alive. The thing is the twin that lived became famous and is known as the boy who lived. His name is Harry Potter, and he lived in England, and somehow he's my twin brother." Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "When Jeremy learned my name, he knew I was the boy who was thought of as dead. Jeremy wanted to introduce me to my brother, and he knew I had no where to go, and we know each other well enough, that he adopted me." He paused to see the reactions of the Foleys but they didn't say anything in their shock, so Danny carried on speaking. "It was rather sudden, but we both knew my situation was only going to get more difficult as time went on. It really was amazingly kind of him." Danny stopped.

"You're moving in with Jeremy Manson then. I'm glad you found someone to take care of you so soon, though you do know we would have taken you in in a heartbeat, right?" Mrs. Foley said.

"I know, and had I thought of that I might have come to you, but I was too busy grieving. Plus Jeremy has the resources to help get me in touch with my brother. Not that I couldn't figure it out on my own now, but Jeremy is in pretty much the same boat I am, so it worked out pretty well." Danny said.

Mr. Foley asked. "Does this mean you're going to Great Britain?" Danny nodded and Mr. Foley said, "When are you leaving?"

"Soon. We're not waiting longer than we have to. It kind of depends on how fast Jeremy can get someone to agree to look after his house here." Danny said.

Mrs. Foley said, "We'll help with that if you want. We don't want to move, but we could look after the place if you need someone for that."

Danny shook his head no. "I think we found someone who will be really happy to move there. If it falls through I'll tell you, but I don't think you would even want the responsibility of looking after this place. I said house, but I meant mansion. The Mansons are billionaires."

"That explains some things." Mrs. Foley said.

"Listen, I'm probably going to be gone no later than the day after tomorrow, so this is probably the last time I'll see you two." Danny said looking at his feet.

Mrs. Foley pulled him into another hug. "I hope you're wrong about that Danny, because we're going to miss you in this small town. Amity hardly seems like Amity without you Fentons."

"Yeah. Who knows what crazy ghost hunters were going to have to deal with now that you're gone." Mr. Foley said.

Mrs. Foley weakly elbowed him. "You're supposed to say I'm going to miss you."

"I did." Mr. Foley defended.

Danny smiled at them. "Well there is some good news out of all of this. I permanently closed the ghost portal in the Fenton Works lab. That means this town probably won't be seeing many more ghosts."

"Why did you take it down?" Mr. Foley asked.

"I knew that the GIW wouldn't wait long to confiscate the lab when my parents died, so as soon as I thought of that I stripped the lab. There's nothing left down in that basement but a metal floor." Danny seemed to sadden at the thought. He didn't let the Foley's say anything though before he said. "I'm going to miss you Foleys, you were like my second family. I hope I see you again someday."

The Foleys said their goodbyes and Danny walked around a corner. Danny took to the sky as Phantom and headed back to the Manson mansion. By the time he was back it was very late. Ida was already asleep, but Jeremy was up. He was reading what looked like a pink flowery journal.

"Is that Pamela's?" Danny asked making Jeremy jump.

Jeremy sighed, "Oh it's just you. I was wondering when you'd get back. And yes, it is hers. I couldn't find Sam's though. I know she used to have one." Jeremy trailed off in thought. Danny did know where Sam's journal was. It was in his bag next to his laptop. He took it to prevent Jeremy or Ida from learning his secret, but now he felt guilty.

Before Danny could change his mind he said, "Do you remember when you asked me about my scars on the bus?" Jeremy flinched at the mention of the bus, but he nodded. Danny went to rub his neck, but stopped himself and rubbed his arms instead. He wanted to break that habit. "What did I tell you?"

Jeremy thought for a second then said, "You said there were only four people who knew the answer to that question. You, Jazz, Tucker, and Sam." Jeremy stopped frowning as he started to realise what that meant. "Wait are you saying you took Sam's journal to protect your secret?" Jeremy sounded slightly irritated making Danny want to take a step back, but he stopped himself, instead Danny just gulped and nodded.

Danny was looking at his toes to avoid looking at Jeremy, so it took him by surprise when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Jeremy kneeling before him. "Listen, I, understand why you took it, so I'll let you keep it. I really hope that I can gain your trust enough for you to one day tell me your secret. I want to know how you got those scars, Danny."

Danny shuffled awkwardly and bit his lip. He really wanted to tell Jeremy. His own parents never knew, and now they never would, and there was no one left, except Vlad, who knew who and what he was. It felt wrong to keep such a huge secret from the man who had adopted him, but he was also afraid. Danny knew from experience how the people of Amity always reacted to ghosts. "I can't." Danny said. Then he mumbled almost to low for Jeremy to hear, "I don't want you to be afraid of me."

"Why would I ever be afraid of you?" Jeremy asked shocked.

Danny locked his icy eyes on Jeremy's lavender ones and Jeremy flinched. Jeremy hadn't seen such a dark haunted look since the war when Voldemort was at the height of his power, and even then that look was only seen on the aurors and the interrogators in the ministry. It was a look of someone who had too much experience with pain and death. "Sometimes I scare me." Danny whispered and started to walk away.

Jeremy reached forward and grabbed Danny's arm to stop the twelve year old. "Please tell me, Danny. I can't promise I won't be afraid, I've never been very brave, but I can promise I won't be afraid of you."

Danny didn't turn back to Jeremy, but he said, "I, I'll think about it. Good night Jeremy."

Jeremy released Danny and said, "Good night Danny."

Ida woke Danny up again the next morning. This time Danny didn't prepare to blast her and just mumbled, "Five more minutes."

Ida laughed and said, "No can do. Jeremy wants you to be there when he takes you out of school."

Danny groaned and sat up on the edge of his bed. "Uhg. Why do I have to go? It's not like there is anything there for me to sign." Danny whined.

"We don't know that, it could be harder because of your parents, so Jeremy might need you. Besides it will be the last time you ever see the school." Ida badgered Danny.

"Fine fine." Danny said, swinging his legs over the side of his bed. Ida zipped out on her electric chair, and Danny quickly got up and got dressed. He put on a black long sleeve undershirt like normal, but he didn't really want to put on his normal red and white shirt over the top so he settled for a dark green one instead. Danny finished up his morning routine and headed down the already familiar path to the kitchen.

Jeremy was waiting with a simply omelet and toast. "There you are Danny. I was wondering when you would get up."

Danny's eye twitched, "You mean you didn't send Nana Ida?"

"Ida? Did she wake you up then?" Jeremy asked and Danny nodded yes. "I should have guessed she would, the old bat."

"I take that as a complement." Ida said suddenly appearing next to Jeremy, who let out an undignified squawk. Ida then turned to Danny, "Good Morning."

"It would be better if I'd slept through it." Danny replied testily. He was still groggy from waking up.

"You'll thank me when we are able to leave today instead of tomorrow, because I woke you up earlier." Ida said.

"If we manage that I'll be surprised." Jeremy said. "We've got a lot to do. I have yet to get an answer from the Greys about the mansion. We also have to take Danny out of school. Then if the Greys decline we have to find someone else."

"You're right. If we get it done soon enough to leave today it will be shocking, and I'll make sure to thank you, Nana Ida, if we do." Danny said. Then he turned to Jeremy and said, "You don't need to worry about what happens if the Greys decline though. The Foleys agreed to look after it, just stop in once in a while, if we need them to. They just said to contact them if we need anything."

"That was nice of them." Jeremy said. He didn't know the Foleys hardly at all. He only knew that they were honest working middle class people.

Danny nodded swallowing a bite. "They are doing it more for me. They've been like my second family, or I guess my third counting the Potters, since I met Tucker in the second grade. They are probably the only people I'm going to miss in this town."

Danny no more then put the last bite of omelet in his mouth then Ida rushed him and Jeremy out the door. The door closed behind them, but not before they heard, "Stop yammering and get to that school already. I'm packed and ready to leave, and that just leaves you two."

The door slammed and Jeremy laughed. "Did you even get to touch your toast?" He asked Danny walking to one of his luxury cars. This time the chauffeur was driving them.

Danny shook his head laughing with Jeremy. "No, but Ida knows that I hate toast."

Jeremy did a double take, "You hate toast?" Danny nodded while climbing into the car. "Okay. Weird but okay."

The wizard and the halfa enjoyed the ride silently, but it didn't last long. Before they knew it the chauffeur stopped in front of the school, and the other two boys were forced to leave the silence of the car. Jeremy wasted no time and Danny had to practically run to keep up. Occasionally they passed an open classroom door, but otherwise the trip to the administration's office was quiet. They walked inside and Jeremy explained the situation. They assured him that the process could be completed right there and handed the poor man a large stack of paper work. The office lady chirped, "Just read through that and fill out the form in the back and we'll complete the rest." Jeremy thanked her and told Danny that he could wander off, saying to come back in twenty minutes.

Danny didn't really want to wander the school. He knew it better than most people, but anything was better than waiting in that small office. Danny walked out and around the corner towards the lunch room when the bell over head rang making his ears hurt in a very familiar way. The hallways were immediately flooded with students most heading to the lunch room, but a few fought their way in different directions. Danny stayed close to the wall hoping to be overlooked, but when a meaty hand grabbed his shoulder and pushed him into the wall he knew his luck had run out.

"Hey, Fentino! I haven't seen you for a few days." the wide blond jock, Dash, said.

"What do you want, Dash?" Danny growled. Danny knew Dash was a jerk, but he figured he might catch a break because of recent events.

"You weren't here Fentina, and that means I had to find some other nerds to wail on. Do you know what happens when I have to find other nerds to wail on Fenturd?" Danny shook his head no. "I waste time and don't reach my daily quota of nerd wailing, but it's okay. Now that you're here I can make it up." Dash finished in a tone that grated on Danny's nerves.

Danny was looking down to hide his glowing green eyes. "Dash today isn't the day for this. Walk away."

"What? Kwan did I just hear right? This nerd is growing a backbone. Looks like I'll have to brake it!" Dash said and then swung out a fist, but it never connected with it's target.

Danny caught Dash's punch and shoved the jock back. He turned his back to walk away but Dash let out a growl that was meant to be scary and charged. Again Dash was shocked when his punch didn't connect. Danny ducked at just the right moment and then proceeded to use Dash's own momentum against him to throw the Jock across the hall into a line of lockers. A crowd had started to form around the two boys and Danny checked his anger. "Most people wouldn't give you this second chance, Dash. Walk away and I'll let you go." Danny said in a calm voice.

The people circling the two boys were shocked. It was well known that Danny Fenton was shy and weak. He'd almost failed PE two years in a row, but now he was completely different. He was hovering above Dash, who was still on the ground, and he wasn't slumping like normal, but standing straight. Danny's voice was calm and clear, and somehow the boy radiated power. He still looked as lanky as ever, but some people found themselves second guessing what was once common knowledge. Maybe Danny Fenton wasn't weak.

Dash was oblivious to the change and didn't answer Danny accept to charge again. This time he came from the front and aimed a punch for Danny's stomach. Danny twisted out of the way, but instead of letting Dash stumble forward Danny brought his elbow down on Dash's back knocking him to the ground. Dash groaned and Danny figured Dash was done, so Danny started to walk away for the second time. Danny walked around the corner and back towards the office just as Jeremy walked out. Danny waved and Jeremy's eyes widened. "Danny lookout!" Jeremy called, but before Jeremy could even finish Danny spun to the side and roundhouse kicked Dash, who'd been aiming to punch Danny in the back of the head. Danny made sure to only get Dash in the shoulder and held back on his strength, but the jock was still knocked into another line of lockers. This time he seemed to have hit his head on the lockers and he slid to the ground unconscious.

The people around the fight were shocked, Dash never landed a punch on Danny and Danny knocked Dash out after trying to stop the fight at least three times. The hall was quiet and everyone, except Danny, was frozen in shock. Danny just calmly walked up to the jock and quickly checked him over. "He'd fine." Danny assured everyone. "He doesn't even have a concussion."

Jeremy broke out of his stupor and shouted, "What the hell was that? Why did you beat up that kid Danny!?"

Immediately Danny fell back into his shy, weak act. His shoulders slumped and he grimaced rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sorry Jeremy. I tried to stop Dash from fighting four times, he just kept trying to hit me, and I'm done letting Dash beat me up."

Everyone around Danny was gaping. Danny just finished knocking out the biggest jock and then he went on to say he was done letting Dash win. Was this the same kid who was failing PE? Danny noticed the stares he was getting and he shifted nervously from foot to foot. Jeremy noticed and decided to take pity on the boy. "Alright Danny. I know you're telling the truth, so I'll let you off this time. Just don't make it a habit."

"Yes, sir." Danny nodded respectfully.

"Now why don't you finish saying goodbye to your friends and then we can leave." Jeremy almost slipped and said fans instead of friends.

Danny looked around at the crowd his fight had amassed. "Um… It was nice knowing you, Casper High, I guess. This is probably the last time you'll see me, because I'm leaving Amity, the sooner the better. So um… Bye." Danny went to leave when a miscellaneous girl stopped him.

"Wait. Danny." A girl called out. Danny didn't recognize her, but he gestured for her to continue. "Does this mean you were always faking being a wimp?"

Danny smiled shyly and started rubbing the back of his neck again. "Um, well not always. I was a wimp back a few years ago, but yeah I've worked hard to keep my reputation." Danny finished and started backing away. When no one asked another question Danny raced toward the front door with speed that would make an olympic runner jealous. That was the last view anyone in Casper ever had of the mysterious Danny Fenton, and his legend lived on in Casper High for years.

Jeremy watched Danny's goodbye speech and tried his hardest not to laugh. Somehow he managed to keep his laughter in check until Danny was out of sight, and then he burst out laughing. He ignored the still stunned student body and slowly walked back to the car chuckling the whole way. He was thinking the only thing that would have made it better is if he had a camera. Jeremy mentally made a note to buy one as he stepped into the car.

In the car Danny was sitting with his arms crossed blushing and pouting. It was almost enough to make Jeremy burst into a fresh bout of laughter, but he only snickered a little. The snickering was too much for Danny who looked up to scowl at the blond man. "Why did you make me say goodbye like that to everyone?" Danny shot his hands up with emphasis.

This time Jeremy didn't hold back his laughter. "You should have seen you face! I wish I had a camera."

Danny growled, and the noise was scary enough to sober up Jeremy's laughing fit a little. "So you just did that to embarrass me!?" Danny asked.

"No." Jeremy explained, "I told you to say goodbye to your fans, a) because I thought you should take a little bow after that fight, and b) because you got yourself into a fight, so you had to deal with the consequences. Even if the consequence was just giving a little speech."

Danny mumbled under his breath about stupid embarrassing parental types and stupid jocks who didn't know when to quit, all the way to the Greys' house. Eventually they pulled up to a tiny little house that was comparable to a trailer home made of stucco. Yard was just as tiny, but both the house and the yard were well kept, and possibly the nicest house in the area.

"Are you going to poute there all day, or do you want to come with me to talk to Valerie and Damian Grey?" Jeremy asked.

Danny didn't answer verbally. He just got out of the car and waited for Jeremy to join him. Jeremy smiled at the boys antics and walked up to the Greys' front door side by side with Danny. They knocked and the Damian opened the door and invited them in. "Mr. Manson, and Daniel Fenton, come in."

"Who is it, Daddy?" Danny heard Valerie call from somewhere in the house.

"It's Mr. Manson and your friend Daniel Fenton." Damian answered.

"It's just Danny Mr. Grey." Danny corrected.

"Okay, just Danny." Damian addressed the ebony haired boy. "May I ask why you're here. I was expecting Mr. Manson, but not you."

Jeremy answered for Danny, "Actually I adopted Danny. When I leave he'll be coming with me."

"What!?" Valerie yelled. Danny turned to see Valerie standing in the doorway to the hallway gaping.

He smiled nervously. "Sorry I didn't tell you yet Val. I kinda wanted to just get out of Amity as fast as possible."

To Danny it seemed like he blinked and Valerie went from a room away to hugging him. She said, "I don't blame you for wanting to leave, but I'm going to miss you."

Danny hugged her back. "I'm glad you're my friend Val. I'm going to miss you too." He released her blushing slightly."

Jeremy and Damian smiled at the teenage reunion and moved away to talk business without interrupting.

Valerie wiped her eyes that were starting to tear. "So Danny what have you done since the accident? You were adopted and are planning to move already and it's only day five." Valerie asked.

Danny's smile fell and he chuckled mirthlessly, "So much has happened. The first thing I did was make a connection with Jeremy. I was avoiding someone, and he took pity on me and took me home with him. We talked for a bit and got to know each other. I learned to like Jeremy, and Jeremy learned to like me. He also learned I had no where to go, and no one to go to, and he was actually an acquaintance of my biological parents who died when I was one."

"So he adopted you?" It still seemed a bit far fetched to Valerie.

"Not then and there no. That night I went to Fenton Works, my home, to say goodbye. One of my neighbors came over. I sobbed all over the poor woman." Danny was lying to Valerie, and he felt terrible about it, but he couldn't let her know he was the one to dismantle Fenton Works if the GIW went around asking questions. "It was the next morning that Jeremy asked if it would be okay if he adopted me. I've been acquainted with Jeremy for a few years now, and we've both lost everyone, or nearly everyone, we cared about in our lives, and it just seemed a good fit."

"So he adopted you?" Valerie repeated more confidently this time.

"In so many words, yes. We finalized the papers two days ago, then the day after that there was my families funeral, and after that Sam and her mother and Tucker." Danny fell into silence. There was rarely a time he could just hang out with Valerie anymore, and this was probably the last time he'd see her. Danny did break the silence eventually. "That's what I've been up to, so how have you been?"

Valerie sighed. "It's been hard. I may not have been close with Paulina anymore, but I was always decent friends with Star. When I wasn't getting along with them I was hanging with you and Sam and Tucker, and now every friend I've ever had in Amity is gone. Except you but you're leaving. I shouldn't be complaining to you. You have it the hardest of anyone in this town."

Danny stopped her from saying more. "Don't. You have every right to mourn your friends. Yes I have lost more, yes Sam and Tucker meant more to me, but that doesn't mean you haven't lost anything."

Valerie started to tear up again, and as a tear slid down her cheek she groaned. "Uhg, let's get on a lighter topic huh?"

"Well I never did tell you what happened today." Danny smirked. Danny gained Valerie's curiosity and he spent the rest of the time giving Valerie a play by play of his fight with Dash. He just finished saying, "So I answered that I had been working very hard to keep my reputation, and then I got out of there as quick as possible" when Jeremy and Damien walked back into the room.

"Val, you and I are moving." Damien said.

"What?" Valerie asked confused.

"So you agreed then?" Danny said.

"Agreed on what? Valerie asked irritated at being ignored.

Jeremy answered Danny, "Yes. He agreed to take the place on the condition that the building would be used and not just the land."

"What are you guys talking about?" Valerie asked louder.

Danny looked at Valerie, "This is goodbye then. I'm going to miss you Val." He reached out and pulled her into a hug. Valerie hugged back confused as to what just happened.

"I'm going to miss you too Danny. Amity just won't be right without you." Valerie said back.

Danny pulled away and he walked with Jeremy out the door. A few seconds after the door closed Danny heard Valerie whoop with joy once the situation with the mansion was finally explained to her, and he smiled. Valerie would be okay.

When Danny got in the car he called up the Foleys and told them the Greys accepted the offer. He got off the phone quickly and asked Jeremy, "So this means we're ready to leave, right?"

Jeremy smiled, "Yeah. When we get back home I'll make some calls to set up our flight, and then we'll finish packing and we'll fly out."

Jeremy made it sound easy and peaceful, but the last minute steps of moving were anything but. As soon as they arrived home Jeremy was on the phone, and Danny was given the job of carting luggage out to the car. Danny's luggage was easy, he only had to repack a couple outfits he'd worn and some small things like pictures. Ida was almost as easy as Danny. She was completely packed and ready to go, but when Danny finished dragging her bags downstairs Ida realised she was forgetting all of her winter sweaters that she had packed away. That made Ida's luggage more difficult because Danny had to track down where the sweaters were and pack them before carting them down. Jeremy was the last to be finished because he hadn't spent much time packing. Danny actually had to pack two bags for Jeremy, and in the end Jeremy just decided that if he needed anything more he would buy it when they got there. After all wasn't that the point of being rich.

Being rich also meant traveling in style. Danny was transported from luxury car to luxury private jet and back again. The various vehicles turned what Danny thought would be a long boring trip into a fairly short one. Though that might have had something to do with him falling asleep twenty minutes after the plane took off, and waking up twenty minutes before landing. They landed in the London airport, and were taken directly to the new estate from there. The car drove them through the newest buildings in London first, but as they went on the buildings petrified and the old architecture started to show more prominently. Then they drove out of the city all together and they ended up on a road traveling through rolling grass hills. When they stopped they weren't yet so far out to have hit farmlands, but the houses had an average of five acres of land.

The car stopped in front of a plain, tall, rod iron gate. There were privacy hedges surrounding the entire property, but from the outside of the gate there were a few old trees visible. Jeremy waved his wand to open the gate and the car started up the driveway. The driveway curved to the left and through the trees there was a large white mansion visible. It wasn't as big as the mansion in Amity park had been, but it could probably still host a small school of children. It's walls were painted a dark stone grey, with white trim, and there were classic white climbing roses bordering the front door. They were in full bloom, and the smell of roses was almost overpowering to the halfa.

Inside was just as grand as the outside. Pale wood floors ran through the entire mansion, and they were accentuated by dark painted walls and light colored ceilings. There weren't quite enough rooms for Danny to get lost, but younger kids might. There were seven bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, living room, sun room, game room, three offices, and even a library with a large observation window. Danny couldn't decide if the library window or his bedroom was his favorite part of the house.

Danny chose one of the larger bedrooms on the third floor. The floors were the same light hard wood as the rest of the house, and the ceilings matched too, but the walls were navy blue with silver trim. The room included traditional furniture, a queen sized bed, a fireplace and his own personal bathroom. The bathroom had the same type of floor and ceiling as the rest of the house, but the walls were silver grey with navy blue trim, instead of the other way around. The other bedrooms were laid out very much the same, but they each had their own color scheme. Jeremy's room was very light with coffee colored walls, and Ida's was painted green and plum purple. The fourth unclaimed bedroom was burgundy and cream.

Thanks to an elevator that connected the three floors, the luggage was easy to get to the rooms they belonged in. It took longer to unpack, but by mid afternoon everything was settled. Danny was even able to unpack the bag of ghost hunting gear when Jeremy found a hidden staircase to the basement cellar.

By the time everything was unpacked and settled, it was starting to get dark. Ida was happy for the excuse to sleep in her new bed. Jeremy bought her a sleep number and she was excited to try out all the settings. It was still too early for Jeremy and Danny to go to bed though, so they started making plans for tomorrow. The conversation lasted them well into the night.

**AN: **_Hey everyone! I hope you liked that chapter. I probably could have skipped about half of this chapter, but I really wanted to write a lets-beat-up-Dash scene. That was the last chapter that focused on wrapping up all the loose ends in Amity and in the next chapter I'll be focusing more on Danny's first experiences in the Wizarding World. _

_I wanted to warn you that after the next chapter updates may slow down. You will still get an update next Friday, but I'm not sure about the Friday after that. My laptop cord broke, so my computer is dead. I'm not sure what happened to it, but now all writing and updates are coming from my parents computer when I can get my hands on it. I'm not stopping writing, but it is definitely slower due to me simply not having as much access to a computer. _

_Until next time, R&amp;R._


	4. How To Be A Wizard

**Chapter 4**

Danny blinked his eyes blearily. This was the first time he could remember since the accident that he hadn't been woken up by Ida or Jeremy. Once he'd finally blinked his eyes out of their sleepy blur he realized he wasn't in his normal room in the Manson Mansion. He panicked for a second and quickly shot to his feet. His body lost all signs that Danny had been asleep as he fell into a cautious defensive position. Danny's eyes flickered wildly his still waking mind looking for clues as to where he was. There was a large window with spring green curtains drawn closed across it. The window was set in the navy blue wall opposite the simple birch door, the door to his new bedroom. Legs unbent, shoulders slouched, and a breath escaped in a sigh as Danny realised where he was.

Danny was standing in the middle of his new bedroom in the mansion Jeremy, Ida, and him moved to. Danny relaxed completely once he'd remembered where they were. He ignored the mess that he'd made of his bed getting up like he had and grabbed a pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt from his mahogany dresser.

It didn't take Danny long to get ready for the day, but it was a while before he made it to the kitchen for breakfast. The grey clad teen spent most of his morning reacquainting himself with the different rooms in the house. His exploration stopped when he reached the living room, because there was someone other than him, Jeremy, or Ida in the living room.

"Hello, you must be Daniel." The man said. The man, still unnamed, was very odd. He had long silky gray hair that flowed down his back, and a silky gray beard that was long enough to tuck into his belt. Resting on his old silver head was a wide brimmed, maroon wizard hat that matched the man's robes. Despite the man's appearance the thing that stood out to Danny the most was the man's eyes. Set into his wrinkled face were two glittering sapphire eyes. Those eyes seemed to hold more than one lifetime of experience, at the same time they held the innocent curiosity of a child, and above all else the man's eyes held power. Danny gathered from the hat and robes the man was a wizard, but it was the man's eyes that both comforted Danny with their innocent curiosity and made him wary because of their piercing, powerful gaze.

Danny made his observations of the man quicker than the man was able to finish his harmless greeting. "Just Danny please." Danny corrected automatically. Danny fell back on his weak Fenton act, but he dialed it down so it wasn't such a big inconvenience later. "And you are?" Danny asked.

Jeremy answered, "Danny, this is professor Dumbledore." Danny nearly jumped at Jeremy's sudden appearance. "I told you I was planning on contacting him early today. He just happened to be available to stop by." The blond man explained.

"It's nice to meet you Professor." Danny nodded to Dumbledore.

"I can't say that I'm just meeting you, Danny." Dumbledore was smiling widely. "I knew your parents, and I know your brother. Forgive me, but I'm ecstatic to see you."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the floor blushing. "Um, Thank you." Danny ended on a slightly questioning note.

Jeremy decided to save his ward the embarrassment. "Danny. Dumbledore and I were just talking about you enrolling in Hogwarts, but we've hit a tiny snag."

Danny's nervousness ended abruptly at the end of Jeremy's sentence. "Snag?" Danny quickly questioned.

"Just a tiny one." Jeremy tried to reassure him, but it didn't seem to work, so Dumbledore decided to explain the problem.

"You see Danny, witches and wizards, in all but a few countries, begin their magical education at the age of eleven. They are magically detected, and then on their eleventh birthday, or just before, the witch or wizard receives an invitation to a magical school in their country." Dumbledore explained.

"So I have to receive an invitation then? Is that the problem?" Danny asked confused.

Dumbledore shook his head, "No of course not. Wizards and witches transfer schools, and choose schools out of their countries all the time. No, the problem is, you are not eleven. This means that you are two years behind in your education."

Danny's eyes widened with some understanding, but he quickly frowned again, thinking about how to solve the problem. Before he could voice his thoughts however, Dumbledore spoke again. "I've given this some thought, and from what I can see there are two options for you."

Danny turned his eyes to the old wizard and gave the man his full attention. Though he didn't show it, something about Danny's unwavering focus was unnerving to Dumbledore. Dumbledore ignored the odd feeling for now and turned his mind back to the conversation. "Your first option is the easiest, but it would be harder for you to see your brother during the school year. You would simply be put in first year classes, but this would mean that even if you are sorted into Gryffindor like your brother, you still wouldn't have classes with him. If you aren't sorted into the same house as your brother you wouldn't have classes with him, or even share a common room."

Danny had been forced to look at all sorts of schools with Jazz when she was researching different colleges, so he knew what school houses were. He filed questions about those houses away for later and prompt, "If option one is enrolling me in a younger class, what's option two then?"

"It would be much harder, but possibly more rewarding." Dumbledore started. "The second option would be for you to catch up in your school work. I could provide you with the course materials of the last two years, and I would have teachers of different subjects check in with you once a week, but you would mainly be teaching yourself. Also realise it would be very difficult to catch up within the summer, so it would probably be best if you started immediately. At the end of the summer when the school year is almost ready I can have you tested to see if you can pass the second year exams, in which case you will choose two electives and move into your third year with your brother."

Danny didn't need to even think about his options before he knew which he would choose, but he paused to make it seem like he'd taken longer to weigh his options. "I want to see what's behind door number two."

Jeremy knew the second options had a greater reward, but he still asked, "You're sure?" Danny nodded and smiled at Jeremy, and Jeremy knew he wouldn't change Danny's mind. "Alright, then I'll help you learn in anyway I can."

Dumbledore waved his wand and a piece of parchment paper appeared above him. It hovered there for a moment and then started floating down, only to be caught by the quick hand of the professor. Dumbledore didn't so much as glanced down to the paper before he handed it to Jeremy.

"What's that?" Danny asked.

"It's a list of the supplies you'll need to start learning magic. Nothing special, but I thought it might help you obtain the right materials." Dumbledore answered.

Danny frowned and turned to Jeremy, "How expensive do you think that will be?" The twelve year old asked.

Jeremy just smiled in response. "There is no need to worry about that." He was laughing internally at Danny's naive question.

"Again, Danny, I'm so happy to see you alive and well, but I'm afraid I must go." Dumbledore excused himself.

"It was nice to meet you professor." Danny said.

"Goodbye, Professor Dumbledore." Jeremy nodded, and seconds later there was a loud crack, like a whip, and Dumbledore disappeared into thin air.

Danny was unphased by the display of teleportation, and didn't pause for long before moving toward the kitchen to have breakfast. Jeremy joined him, and told Danny, since they didn't have any other plans, that they should go to Diagon Alley to get Danny's supplies after they finished eating.

Danny was practically bouncing with excitement, waiting for Jeremy to finish getting ready. After hearing that they would be headed to Diagon Alley after breakfast Danny had scarfed down his food at an unhealthy rate and then proceeded to wait, not so patiently, for Jeremy to finish his breakfast. Then he waited for Jeremy to get coffee, and find his shoes, and his jacket. After ten minutes that Danny thought felt like and hour Jeremy was ready to go. Danny started heading to the door, but stopped when Jeremy walked past Danny to the living room.

"Jere!" Danny whined using Ida's favorite nickname for Jeremy. "I thought you said you were ready." Danny followed Jeremy into the living room to see the blond pick up what looked like a small ask pot from the side of the fireplace.

"Hmm, there's not much left, so we'll have to get more while we're out, but there is enough for the two of us." Jeremy muttered.

"What are you talking about? Enough what for us to do what?" Danny was thoroughly confused.

Jeremy looked up at Danny and answered, "There's enough floo powder for one trip to Diagon Alley using the floo network."

"Huh?" Danny asked hoping to get a less confusing answer.

Jeremy chuckled at Danny's expression before explaining. "Wizards can travel through fireplaces, using the floo network. All you do is throw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace. Then the fire will turn green, like ghost green, and you can step into the fire and say the name of the place you want to go." Danny looked skeptical so Jeremy said, "Look there are only two of us, so you can go first, or you can watch me go, which one."

"I'll go." Danny said hesitantly. He stepped forward and took a handful of the powder. It looked like green ash. He tossed it in the flames which immediately turned a brilliant shade of green just darker than ectoplasm. He stepped in slowly, the flames didn't even feel warm, and said, "Diagon Alley." Suddenly the pleasant little green fire shot upward an engulfed Danny. He felt himself twisting and turning through the network of fireplaces, and as he passed each grate he could briefly see into the place they stopped before he moved on. It was a cycle of twisting and flashing grates and more twisting that was starting to make him sick. All the same it was over almost before it began and Danny fell out of a fireplace into a dingy inn.

Danny quickly stood up and took in his surroundings. Dindgy almost wasn't enough to describe the inn. The floors and ceilings were made of an old well use wood, and the walls were this odd brown that made you wonder if at one point they'd been a lighter color. The entire place didn't seem dirty, just dark. The clientell was also odd. Sitting at the bar was a man cloaked in black, and his face seemed to be wrapped to hide his features. In the corner there were a bunch of small mean looking creatures counting gold coins and talking in weird language. Scattered about were also various witches and wizard drinking or eating.

Danny finished his observations of the place as Jeremy appeared out of the fireplace behind him. "Alright. Now that we're here, the first place we need to go is the bank. Follow me."

Danny did as he was told and Jeremy lead him into a bricked in patio with some trash cans and same crates. "Um, are you sure this is the right way?" Danny questioned while looking around him to see if he'd missed anything.

Jeremy laughed, "One second you'll see." Jeremy tapped on a brick directly right of a crumbling one, and the bricks started folding in on themselves to create a magical doorway. As they stepped through Jeremy said, "Welcome, Danny, to Diagon Alley."

Danny looked around wide eyed trying to see everything at once, but it was too much. Shops lined either side of the red cobble street, which was filled with witches and wizards dressed in ever colored robe imaginable. The shop windows were filled with all assortments of magical items. One very popular shop displayed a broomstick, but not one you would ever use to sweep. This one had a handle made so a person could sit comfortably on it while grasping the broom higher up, and the bristles were shaped a bit like a bullet, definitely made for speed. Danny guessed that the broom was meant to be ridden, and wondered how fast it could get.

Jeremy walked past the shops slower than he would normally trying to let Danny see it as much as he could, but before long the duo stood in front of Gringotts Wizard Bank. The bank was a tall towing structure of marble that overlooked the bustling street below. The front doors were very tall and had an inscription on them. It read:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed

For those who take, but do not earn

Must pay most dearly in their turn

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

The sign made Danny wonder what Wizards used to guard their money. Jeremy didn't even pause at the door, just continued through. The inside was even grander than the outside. The floor was wider than the ceiling was tall, and the ceiling was at least twenty feet up. Hanging down from the ceiling there was a row of crystal chandeliers, and lining the main walk way there were booths filled with the same small mean creatures Danny had seen in the inn. Also like the creatures in the inn, many of them were counting stacks of gold, silver, and bronze coins. Jeremy spoke quietly to Danny, "Those are goblins. They are amazing craftsman, but have an ill temper towards wizards. We and them have often clashed in the past, and the Goblins are still bitter."

Jeremy walked up to a goblin in a booth and said, "I would like to enter my vault."

Slowly the goblin placed the gem he was examining down on the counter in front of him and looked up at Jeremy with a questioning and slightly bored gaze. Jeremy responded in kind by pulling a little golden key from his pocket and placing it on the table. The goblin picked it up and looked it over for a moment before speaking. "The Manson vault. Very well." The goblin gave the key back to Jeremy and stopped a goblin that was passing behind him. "Bohld, take Mr. Manson to his vault."

The goblin named Bohld nodded and said, "This way." Jeremy waved Danny to follow him as he was following the goblin. The goblin lead them through a door that opened into a roughly carved rock cave. It was shaped a little like a train station, and in the middle of the tunnel there was a large minecart on a track. The goblin stepped into the cart, followed by Jeremy, who was followed by Danny. Once they were all in the cart Bohld said, "Hands and feet inside the cart at all times please."

With no other warning they started moving. It was slow at first, but it quickly gained momentum, and before long they were moving more than a hundred miles and hour down a narrow twisting track. The track was so sporadic with it's twists and turns that Danny knew if he was down here without a goblin he was sure to be lost. After a few minutes the cart started to slow, and soon enough it stopped at another train-station-like tunnel. The largest difference from the tunnel they started in and the tunnel they ended in was the large vault door embedded in the wall next to them.

The door was as large as the ghost portal had been, and it was decorated with an elaborate geometric design. Bohld stepped out of the cart and announced, "Vault 742." Then he held out his hand and asked, "Key?"

Jeremy handed the key to the goblin, who pressed a hidden button to reveal the key hole. The goblin unlocked the door and handed opened the door before handing the key back to it's owner. Jeremy waved Danny inside. Together they entered and Jeremy said, "Grab a couple handfuls of those sickles over there while I get galleons and knuts."

"What are sickles, galleons, and knuts?" Danny asked.

"Oh, right. You don't know. They're the currency of wizards. The gold coins are galleons, the silver ones are sickles, and the bronze ones are knuts. Knuts are like pennies, and there are 29 nuts in a sickle. Then there are seventeen sickles for every galleon. Anyway just grab a couple handfuls and stick them in this bag." Jeremy showed Danny a brown bag he was holding. "We are going to need a lot of each type of coin to get everything we're shopping for."

"Okay." Danny said as he got to work grabbing coins. Needless to say it didn't take the two long before they were back outside to the waiting goblin. Said goblin took them in the cart back to their originating tunnel, and Jeremy and Danny walked back out to the street of Diagon Alley. "So what next?" Danny asked.

"First we're going to get you some basic supplies." Jeremy said already walking to a shop. Danny hurried to follow him into a store that was selling rolls of paper, quills, ink, and many more tools for writing and reading. Paper, quills, and ink were exactly what they bought. They were in and out, and on to the next store. This one had shelves and shelves of odd ingredients. Eye of newt and wool of bat were probably some of the more normal products found in that store. Jeremy went around the store quickly gathering materials, and after grabbing some floo powder, he paid for the items.

Jeremy sighed as he and Danny once more entered the streets. "Okay, now this way." He said already wary of shopping. Danny was exactly the opposite, still fascinated at every new sight. Even the bookstore was interesting. Danny barely stepped foot in the bookstore when he heard, "Grab that book!" Danny saw a book flying quickly toward his head, followed by a awkward chubby man who was chasing after it. Instinctively Danny raise his hand and caught the book, and then side stepped the man who tripped and landed where Danny had been standing moments earlier.

"Oof!" The man let out as he landed on his stomach. Quickly the man stumbled to his feet and brushed himself off. "Erm. Sorry about that." The man said running his hands through his hair.

"No problem." Danny said. He looked down at the book, which read, "Messenger Birds." and then he handed the book back. "Why was the book flying towards me anyways?" Danny asked.  
"Not at you exactly, but at the door you just entered through. You see it's cursed to try and fly away every time someone reads the cover. If you just open the book and read it, it doesn't move." The man said.

Danny frowned, "But I just read the title."

The man frowned back at Danny. "That's not possible, because like I said the book is cursed. I brought it in today to see about taking the curse off the book."

"But I read the title on the cover. The book is called messenger birds." Danny insisted.

"Young man, I apologize for my earlier clumsiness, but your joke isn't funny." The man scolded Danny because he thought Danny was trying to prank him. Jeremy didn't wonder why the man thought Danny was lying. After all if the book was cursed, then the book was cursed, but maybe there was a way around the curse. Jeremy unconsciously looked down and read the cover of the book in the man's hands. He read the word messenger before the book shot of like a bolt straight back to Danny who caught it again. "Hey!" The man shouted as it left his hands, and Danny kindly gave it back to him again.

Jeremy said nervously, "Huh, sorry about that." The man just glared and stocked off out the front door clutching his book. "Well lets get your books then shall we." Jeremy said turning to Danny.

Danny shook off his odd encounter with the man and nodded before following Jeremy to the store counter. "Hello. How may I help you?" The man's name tag showed his name to be Joey.

"Yes. My", Jeremy paused not sure what to call Danny, "ward and I are looking for these books." Jeremy handed Joey the list Dumbledore had given him.

"That's a lot of books." Joey asked silently inquiring about the reason behind the large list.

"Yes it is." Jeremy avoided the question.

"Alright. It's going to take a bit to track down each of these, but I think we have them all." Joey walked out from behind his counter. "Just wait here and I'll be back momentarily."

A few minutes after he left, Joey was back with his arms full of books. Jeremy paid for the books and then used a charm to shrink the books down to the size of quarters. He stuffed the books in his pocket and lead Danny out. "Okay." Jeremy said. "Now for lunch and then possibly the longest of the stops."

"What?" Danny asked.

"Your wand." Jeremy answered. As promised after lunch Jeremy lead Danny to Ollivander's wand shop. The store reminded Danny of a mix between the Ghost Writer's lair in the ghost zone, and a shoe shop. The room was filled with shelves carrying thin long boxed. There were so many shelves stuffed with boxes that the dimensions of the room were hidden from Danny's point of view. Other than the shelves of boxes there was a small desk with a chair, and three wooden chairs in front of the window.

Suddenly a man stepped out from behind one of the shelves. The man was old and gangly with frizzy, thin, white hair and glassy grey eyes. "It's been a long time Mr. Manson."

"Yes I just moved back home with my ward, Danny Potter. He's here for his first wand." Jeremy greeted the old man. Mr. Ollivander did a double take at Danny after hearing his name, but Danny stopped him from asking questions by asking one of his own.

"You two know each other?" Danny asked.

"I never forget a customer", Mr. Ollivander said, "and if I'm correct I sold you, Jeremy Manson, a solid Oak and unicorn hair wand, 10 inches."

Jeremy nodded. "Yep, it's never let me down."

"Alright then Mr. Potter. I think I know where to start looking for you." The old man said before walking off into his isles of wands. He came back with seven boxes. The first box opened to show a dark brown wand with a bulbous handle. Ollivander handed the wand to Danny and said, "Dogwood and phoenix feather, 9 inches and springy. Give it a wave." Danny did as he was told and a ball of fire shot out of the end and barely missed Mr. Ollivander. Said man snatched the wand back, "No! No, that is completely wrong." He said placing the wand back in it's box, and moving it and two other wands the other side of the desk.

"Here try this one. It's an apple oak with dragon heartstring core and 11 inches." Ollivander said handing Danny a light brown wand with a very simple handle. Danny flicked it, away from any people this time, and sent a box flying across the room. Again Ollivander snatched the wand back muttering to himself about wrong cores. Over the next hour the pattern of waving wands, causing destruction to the shop, and then being handed different wands continued for over an hour. Danny understood why Jeremy mentioned this was the longest stop.

"What about this? Cypress, phoenix tail feather, and 13 ½ inches." Danny gave this one a wave not even taking note of the design anymore. It let out a puff of black smoke that clung to him making Danny hack and cough. This time Mr. Ollivander didn't immediately snatch the wand back, but took a step back from Danny and looked him up and down muttering. Danny placed the newest discarded wand in the ever growing pile and watched Ollivander watch him. Danny heard the old man mutter, "He couldn't be." before walking back into the depths of the store.

This time Mr. Ollivander was gone much longer, and he only came back with one box. The box was very old and worn, and Mr. Ollivander placed it on the table with care. He slid the box open and pulled out a white wand with streaks of grey and green running through it. The handle was long and spiraling. "I don't expect this one to work for you, but try it anyway." Ollivander said while handing Danny the newest wand. Danny didn't even half to wave the wand. Once Danny was holding the wand he felt a chill similar to his ghost sense run up his spine, and snow started to fall in the air around him. Ollivander clasped his hands together and said, "Marvelous!"

"What is, Mr. Ollivander?" Danny asked.

"You were just chosen by possibly the most unique wand ever made." Ollivander stated happily.

"Oh?" Danny said surprised, "And how is this wand so unique. It looks normal to me."

"That is a 12 inch white ebony, ice phoenix tail feather wand, and my family has been trying to match that wand for two generations." The old man chirped.

"Ice phoenix?" Jeremy said, "Is that even real?"

"Yes, though not many people know of them, because they are a very rare and powerful death omen. My grandfather obtained this feather from a beautiful phoenix, but he only just managed to get it home, because he died the next day. My father then made that wand with a wood almost as rare in wand making as that phoenix was. Ebony wands are notorious for choosing unique individuals who are proud of their differences, and they make very powerful wands. White ebony is almost never used though, because they are very picky with who they choose. From my experience they most often choose people who wear a mask to hide what makes them different from everyone else." Ollivander had been staring off into space as he rambled about why the wand was unique, but he looked at Danny to say, "Be warned, Mr. Potter. That wand has chosen you, and in doing so it has marked you as one who is connected to death, and as someone who is different than what they seem." Suddenly Mr. Ollivander returned to his normal slightly apathetic self and he said, "That will be eleven sickles."

Jeremy looked at the old man oddly but then shrugged and handed over the money, and both him and Danny left the shop. Jeremy laughed lightly once they were out, "That man can be a bit superstitious at times."

Danny smiled up to his guardian, "Are all wandmakers like that, or was it just him?"

"Weird, spacey introverts? No. Superstitious? Yes." Jeremy laughed but then said contemplatively, "Though you never know, I've never known Ollivander to be wrong yet." Jeremy's voice was full of mock seriousness, "So tell me Danny. Are you connected in someway with death." Danny's smile faded and he was silent for a moment. "Hey", Jeremy asked confused, "what's up? It was only a joke."

Danny seemed nervous all of a sudden, but then his posture became more confident and his eyes seemed to glow with determination. "You know how you asked me if I would tell you how I got my scars?" Danny asked.

"Yes." Jeremy said very suddenly nervous to know what Danny was thinking, and excited at the possibility that Danny was maybe going to trust him with Danny's biggest secret.

"I'll tell you how i got them. Not here, but if you remind me when we're alone." Danny said.

"Yes!" Jeremy exclaimed in triumph. "Um, I mean, I'm glad you're trusting me with this." Jeremy said embarrassed by his exuberance. Danny just laughed. "I know." Jeremy said. "I'm going to get you something to celebrate."

"Jere, you don't have to do that." Danny said.

"Nonsense. I want to get you a gift, so a gift you will get." Jeremy said happily. "Come with me."

As Danny followed Jeremy he wondered at how happy the man was. Danny had never seen Jeremy so happy before. Before Sam and Pamela died he'd not spent much time with the man, and since everything had been tainted by grief. Now though the man was almost skipping, and it made Danny happy in his decision to tell Jeremy about his ghost half.

Finally the two stopped when Jeremy walked through the doors of a new store. Danny, who had stopped paying attention to where they were walking, was violently brought out of his thoughts when he was hit head on by a wave of sound. Chirping, squawking, squealing, meows, and hisses filled the halfa's ears making the young boy wince. As his hearing adjusted to the sound of the pet shop Danny asked/yelled at Jeremy, "Why are we in a pet shop?"

Jeremy said back, "So you can pick out a pet."

"Really!?" Danny asked excitedly. The Fentons had never allowed any pets after their first fish accidentally ate some ectoplasm infused fish food. To say the results weren't pretty would be a gross understatement. Danny had always wanted a pet though.

Jeremy nodded his consent, and Danny shot off into the store before the man could say another word, much to Jeremy's amusement. Danny took his time choosing a pet. He started simply with rats, mice, and ferrets, but they all seemed slightly skittish. All too soon Danny realized they were nervous about his ghost half. He tested the theory by flashing his eyes green, and he was proven right when the rodents he'd been looking at let out various squeaks of panic and ran in their cages to get as far away from him as possible. Danny sighed and moved on, at least he wasn't really planning on getting a rat anyway. He moved to the owls, and though a few of them still seemed uneasy with his presence, most of them were fine, but Danny wasn't decided on an owl. Danny only had to take one step into the section of the store with cats for them all the start hissing. Danny almost didn't go into the section at all when he noticed a cat sitting silently in the back peering at him with ice blue eyes. Danny walked over to the cat, ignoring all the others who were hissing, to take a closer look. It was a larger sized house cat. It would probably measure a foot and a half from it's head to the tip of it's tail. The cat had a short coat of dense fur that was almost solid stone gray, but Danny's eyes could just pick out a spotted pattern in the cat's was still staring at his curiously, and when he flashed his eyes at the cat it seemed to perk up. Instead of running like the rest of the animals did, it meowed and walked to the front of it's cage, pawing at the latch.

A voice behind Danny startled him. "Huh. You're the only person that cat has ever liked." The woman said, "Everyone else that comes in my shop he ignores, or if they approach him he turns his back on them."

"What type of cat is he?" Danny asked.

"Technically speaking he's a Bengal, but I'm not sure what generation he is, and he seems more domestic than wild. Still has the distinctive marks of a Bengal though." She said.

"What are the distinctive marks of a Bengal?" Danny asked curiously.

"If you take him out of his cage you'll see." She said.

Danny went to take the cat out of the cage, but paused at the latch and asked, "May I?" The woman nodded so Danny continued. As soon as the latch was open the cat climbed forcibly into Danny's arms and started purring. Danny looked down at the cat and what he saw was amazing. In the light the faint spots Danny saw earlier started to shine like they were coated in glitter. (AN: This is true. Bengals exist, but they are bred from small wild cats and domestic cats. If it's an F1 that's first generation, and it has to at least be F4 or fourth generation to be considered a Bengal. I might be a bit off on my facts, but I so want one.)

"It doesn't show on camera, or out of the light, but all bengal cats have glittering coats." She smiled.

Danny smiled down at the cat and asked, "Does he have a name?"

"No. He's only been here for a few days, and he's still a kitten. We try and let the customers name the kittens." She answered.

"Still a kitten?" Danny looked at the cat that was already fifteen pounds.

"Yep." The woman said, "These cats get pretty big. They aren't the biggest breed, but they're close. They're like a medium sized dog." It was a good thing Danny was strong, because he had chosen his pet. Danny looked over to Jeremy to see Jeremy watching him. Danny waved Jeremy over.

"You've made your choice then?" Jeremy asked and Danny nodded. Jeremy turned to the store owner and said, "We'd like this cat."

"Alright follow me." The woman grabbed the cat carrier and waved them to the counter. She pulled a bag of food out from under the counter and said, "Okay. So this is the brand of kitten food I would recommend for this breed, the cat carrier comes with the cat, and that Bengal will cost you nine galleons."

Jeremy paid the money and Danny put his massive kitten back in his carrier. Once they were out of the store they started back to the fireplace that would take them home and Jeremy asked, "Why did she give us kitten food for your cat?"

"Because my cat's a kitten." Danny answered.

Jeremy's eyes widened a little and silently he was thankful to have a large house, "Well do you have a name for your kitten yet?"

"I don't know." Danny said glancing into the crate.

The halfa and his guardian went back home, and Ida wanted to hear Danny's opinion of everything in Diagon Alley. She loved his description of goblins as mean looking waist high creatures, and was fascinated by his wand. She stayed up later than she normally did talking about wandlore, but eventually she did go to bed when she started yawning. "Promise to check the elevator on your way to bed. I'm not sure I can stay wake long enough to reach mine." She said.

"I will, Nana Ida." Danny said as she steered herself to the elevator.

Danny walked up two flights of stairs to his room, not acknowledging Jeremy following behind him. Danny heard Jeremy pause in the living room outside his bedroom door, so he grabbed his pajamas and started to get ready for bed. Danny didn't hear Jeremy at his door until it was too late. Jeremy gasped as he opened the door and saw Danny's damaged skin. Danny was in nothing but his underwear and Jeremy could see more scars than he'd seen last time. He'd seen the scars before, but it was worse than he remembered. There were so many scars, large and small, of all different types. There were burns and gashes and others Jeremy couldn't identify covering every inch of Danny's skin.

Danny sighed and turned to face Jeremy. Danny's expression was slightly nervous, but when he saw Jeremy's expression Danny's became tinged with regret. "I, I guess you want that explanation now." Danny said; it wasn't a question, but Jeremy nodded anyway. Danny sighed and pulled on his pajama pants, but he didn't bother with the shirt. Then he sat on the edge of his bed and gestured Jeremy to do the same. Jeremy sat across from Danny in a wooden chair and waited. After a few more seconds Danny started, "Two years ago I was like anyone else. I was a wimpy geek who had weird friends and was picked on in school." Danny leaned back so he was resting on his headboard. "I got great grades, but they weren't perfect." Danny sighed, "I wanted to be popular, and I wanted to be an astronaut."

"You're not that person anymore?" Jeremy asked leaning toward Danny unconsciously.

Danny shook his head no. Danny looked up to his ceiling and said, "Two years ago my parents built their most amazing invention, the ghost portal." Danny's eyes stared off focused on a past Jeremy couldn't see. "It was supposed to be a portal to the realm where all ghosts reside. I was curious about it, but like all of my parent's inventions up to that point, it didn't work." Danny's expression was calmer while he was telling Jeremy his story. "Mom and Dad were so dejected when the portal didn't work. They just shut themselves up in their room." Danny smiled softly as he said, "I of course told Sam and Tuck, and they of course wanted to see the portal, dysfunctional or not. After school that day I lead them down to the lab. Tucker was amazed by the technology, and Sam was fascinated by the idea of a ghostly realm." Danny's smile fell and he paused.

After a moment of silence Jeremy said, "That's a nice story, but what does it have to do with, those?" Jeremy gestured to a long burn on Danny's side.

"At first I wanted to leave, but Sam convinced me to take a look at the inside of the portal. I slipped on my own white and black hazmat suit, and I stepped inside." Jeremy just barely noticed Danny shiver caught up in the memory. "As soon as I was more than a few feet into the portal the walls and floor became so heavily shadowed that I couldn't see anything. I placed my hand on the wall I knew was next to me to keep my balance, but then I felt something give under my hand." Danny nervously glanced to Jeremy and decided it was best to just skip the painful part. "I accidentally pressed the on button, which my parents had placed on the inside of the portal. It turned on with me inside, and it changed me." Danny wasn't sure what the best way to say it was, and he paused again.

Jeremy waited for a moment but then said, "How did it change you?" when Danny took to long. Danny's eyes nervously darted to Jeremy and then back to the bed cover, making Jeremy remember one of their earlier conversations. Danny had said, 'I don't want you to be afraid of me', but Jeremy still didn't know what that meant. "I promise I won't be afraid." Jeremy said trying to calm Danny.

It barely worked and Danny fidgeted with the edge of his blankets as he said, "I'm Danny Phantom." Danny spoke softly but clearly, and there was no mistaking his words. Jeremy was at a loss for words himself. He just didn't know what to say to that, so Danny filled the silence. He flipped his legs over the side of his bed and sat up to say, "I didn't decide to be a superhero over night. It just sort of happened because I was protecting Amity from the ghosts that were coming through the portal. And Sam and Tucker helped a lot. I wouldn't have made it through freshman year without them."  
"It makes sense." Jeremy cut Danny off.

"Huh?" Those weren't the words Danny was expecting.

"Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom, why you pretended to be weak and shy." Jeremy's eyes were alight with realization, "It explains everything!"

Danny seemed a little less nervous and he asked, "S-so you're not scared or disgusted?"

Jeremy refocused his eyes on Danny and indignantly said, "Disgusted!? Why would I ever be afraid, let alone disgusted?"

Then Danny did something Jeremy never expected and rushed forward and hugged Jeremy tightly. Jeremy patted Danny on the back and Danny let go blushing slightly with embarrassment. Answering Jeremy's silent question Danny said, "Thank you for accepting me."

"Of course, Danny, who wouldn't accept a hero." Jeremy said making Danny blush at his toes. "There is something I don't understand though."

Danny tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy. "What?" He asked.

"I get that you must have gotten the scars from the many fights I've seen, and haven't seen, but how? How can you be a ghost?"Jeremy said.

"Like this." Danny said before he let the white rings form around his waist. At first the Flash blinded Jeremy, but only for a second. Then Jeremy gasped as he watched the ring split into two and travel across Danny's body changing him from human to ghost as it went. In a matter of seconds Jeremy was no longer sitting in front of Daniel Fenton Manson Potter, but he was faced with the ghostly superhero of Amity Park. "The portal killed me halfway." Danny explained, ignoring Jeremy's gaping. "It made me into what ghosts call a halfa, half ghost half human. I'm still basically human when I'm in human form, and I'm basically a ghost in ghost form, but I have a few traits of both in both forms."

Just as Jeremy was about to ask his next question, one of many, Ida wheeled herself into the room and said, "Do either of you remember where I put my helmet?" Then she paused noticing Danny floating in Phantom form, but instead of asking why he was there, or any other question that would have made sense, she said, "I see you finally told him. It's about time!"

Danny's jaw dropped and Jeremy said, "You knew!?"

"Of course." Ida said.

"What!? For how long?" Danny asked in shock.

"Oh come on. It's not hard. Fenton and Phantom, and you look exactly the same. I've known for at least a year." Then Ida turned back to Jeremy. "You sure you don't know where it is?" Jeremy shook his head no and Ida said, "Oh well", and raced back down the hallway and into the elevator.

Jeremy and Danny watched the old woman leave in disbelief, then they turned to each other and started laughing. They laughed hysterically until there were tears in their eyes, and when they stopped they were still smiling widely. "That's just like her." Jeremy said.

Danny was still chuckling, "I probably should have guessed. She use to always distract you and Pamela so Sam could sneak ghost weaponry past you guys."

"What!?" Jeremy said shocked, but his expression just made Danny start laughing again. "Humph, I guess it's better that Sammy had weapons to protect her."

Guardian and superhero ward sat comfortably in silence for a while until Danny noticed Jeremy's blood shot, drooping eyes. "You should probably sleep."

Jeremy frowned, "I have so many questions still, and what about you."

"I'm going to bed too, even though I can last longer without sleep than most people. And don't worry about questions. I'll answer everything for both you and Nana Ida tomorrow." Danny reassured.

Jeremy sighed and gave in, "Alri-ight." The word was cut off midway by a yawn. Jeremy chuckled at his silliness for not wanting to go to bed, but he also chuckled in disbelief at everything he'd learned over the last hour. Despite his agreeing to go to bed, Jeremy didn't think he was going to sleep anytime soon. The two said goodnight, and Jeremy left Danny's room, but not before taking one last amazed look at his battle scarred child hero.

**_AN: _**_The time I spent on that stupid wand is, well stupid. I looked at the wiki wand woods page obviously, but after a while I just decided to make up traits for the wood I wanted. Of course Ebony is actually supposed to choose a witch or wizard who is unafraid to be themselves, so I kept that in mind while giving the white ebony it's properties. My thoughts were that if ebony is attracted to wizards who are proud of what makes them unique, and who are unafraid to be themselves, then white ebony could keep one of those properties (pride in ones differences) and be opposite for the other property (unafraid to be themselves). I chose the ice phoenix, whether it exists or not, because it is just perfect for Danny, especially as the twin of Harry. Where Harry is a hot head I've made Danny emotionally cold, which is further mirrored by his ice powers. I also wanted to use a phoenix that wasn't attached to eternal life. As for the ice phoenix being a death omen, I just thought that would kind of be a cool addition. _

_Anyway I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter, and until next time, R&amp;R. :)_


	5. The Other Potter

**Chapter 5**

Danny flipped to page three and read, "Different spells utilize different wand motions. Though there are some spells that have unique wand motions, most spells share a wand motion with other spells. The swish and flick is a common wand motion for many low level spells such as the levitation charm." Danny held out his white wand and practiced the swish and flick motion before reading the word used for the levitation spell. "Wingardium Leviosa. Wingardium Leviosa. Wingardium Leviosa." He said over and over trying different pronunciations. Finally after his eighth try the pencil he'd been pointing at began to slowly float upward. Danny smiled in triumph, but his face fell back into a frown quickly as he remembered how much work he still had left to do. He wasn't going fast enough.

"You're doing great, Danny!" Jeremy complimented him. "Most kids take thirty tries or more to get that spell, even if it is one of the easiest. I don't think I've ever seen someone pick it up so quickly."

Danny sighed. "I'm still going to slow. Yes I've learned a days worth of lesson before noon, but I have to learn every lesson, for every class, for two years, and I have to learn it in two months." Danny stressed pulling at his hair.

Jeremy walked over and patted Danny on the back. "Relax. All you can do is work one lesson at a time, and learn the lessons as you go."

Danny's eyes widened with realization, then he broke into a wide grin and said, "Maybe a human has to."

"What?" Jeremy questioned confused at Danny's sudden change in mood. The change in mood paled in comparison to Danny's next change from human to ghost. There was a quick flash of light and Danny was now Phantom. He scrunched his eyes in concentration and after a moment he was split into two identical copies and then three. The one in the middle, the original, turned back to human. The one on the left picked up the transfiguration book, and started reading it. The one on the right picked up the history book, and started reading that. Then the two that were still in ghost form became invisible with their books. Jeremy's eyes were bugging out of his head when he said, "Did you just duplicate yourself?"

"Yup, and I retain the information of all of my duplicates, so I just have to retrieve the memories from them to practice spells, and I don't have to worry about time so much." Danny said. "I'm still going to have to work all day everyday to complete this work load."

"I'm never going to get used to that." Jeremy said.

"You would be surprised what someone can get used to, Jere." Danny laughed sprawling out on the sofa to read his next chapter.

As Danny predicted his classes went much faster now that he was using clones. Working day and night Danny was able to finish his make up work a week before the school year started. Danny passed the tests for his second year with flying colors and Dumbledore congratulated him by handing him the next years materials list while wishing him good luck.

The next morning at breakfast Jeremy said, "We need to do another trip to Diagon Alley. We need more food for Specter and we need to get your new school supplies, Danny."

Danny smiled and said, "I don't mind coming, but I was wondering if I could stay here. I haven't really had a chance to explore this place yet, and I'd like to before going to Hogwarts."

Jeremy turned to Ida, and said to Danny, "That would be fine, as long as Ida would be willing to take your measurements."

Dany wasted no time as he gave Ida his best puppy eyes he could. Danny was successful and Ida laughed, "Fine! I'll do it, but only if Danny makes hot chocolate." She said smiling to her adopted grandson. Ever since Danny had been living with them, Ida discovered she loved Danny's hot chocolate, and she had become a bit of an addict.

Danny laughed nodding, and said, "Thanks. I just don't want to come back to this place knowing only as well as the day I moved in."

After they finished their hot chocolate, Ida measured Danny, and Jeremy disapparated to go get Danny's supplies. Then Ida retreated to the sun room with a book, and Danny walked into the back yard with Specter trailing after him. The backyard was huge. The area Danny had been in before was taken up by a large slightly overgrown garden, but Danny had studied in the garden many times already, and was more interested in the trees beyond the garden. About fifty feet away from the house there was a small forest. The forest went past the property line, but Danny had never explored just how far the forest went.

Danny walked past where he knew Ida would see him if she was looking, and transformed. He started to float already turning himself intangible when he heard a loud meow from beneath him. He looked down and saw Specter pacing back and forth trying to get his attention. "Did I almost leave you behind?" Danny asked his cat as he floated back down to the earth. His feet no more than touched the ground than Specter leaped into his arms. Danny caught his cat, and laughed, before he began to fly off again. Danny flew slowly through the trees, and after a few minutes he came to the opposite edge of the woods.

The woods ended after only a few miles at a small river. On the river's opposite bank there were some rolling hills with far spread houses, if you could call them that. The houses were so far spread apart a normal human probably would have only been able to see one of them, but Danny could see seven. Three of the houses seemed normal, excessively large, but normal. There were two farm houses, and two towers. One of the tower houses looked to be eight or nine stories high, but only 20 feet in diameter. The other tower looked like a cottage that someone kept adding rooms to, and over time the adding of rooms had created a five story house that was smaller at the bottom than at the top. The effect made the house look like it could fall apart at any moment, and it reminded Danny painfully of how his old home in Amity looked with the Ops Center perched on top.

Danny left the houses and turned back to the woods. He flew around mentally mapping the entire area in his mind. Most of the woods were just trees and little paths, but Danny did find an overgrown clearing. It was near the edge of the property, either just on the property, or just over it, but it was nearly invisible. Danny wouldn't have found it had he not been flying intangibly.

The clearing was surrounded by bushes and overgrown trees, but in the dead center of the space there was a small willow tree. In the base of the tree there were two names carved, Frederic and Samantha Manson. The tree split off from there into three more branches with two names carved on each branch. That pattern continued, and Danny realized it was a living family tree. After his discovery Danny spent hours tracing the tree to find Sam's name. Finally he found Jeremy, and then Samantha Manson. Danny smiled imagining how Sam would complain about names being carved in a tree. Danny saw a water droplet land on a leaf next to Sam's name and realized he was crying. He brushed away his tears and then, as he looked down on the teardrop sparkling on the leaf, he had a perfect idea. His neon green eyes changed back to his regular ice blue, and they glowed brightly as an ice crystal started to form in his hand. The process of creating a sculpture of ice was slower than normal, because Danny was making sure that there were structural imperfections that would catch the light. It still didn't take long before the sculpture was done, and Danny attached his ice raven to Sam's branch. It was ghost ice, so it was unmelting, and it was visible from even the edge of the clearing.

Danny settled himself leaning against the base of an oak tree facing the willow. He set Specter down, and the gray cat slowly wandered around the area. Danny watched lazily as his ice construct and his cat glittered in the sunlight. A breeze picked up the scent of flowers from somewhere nearby, and slowly Danny found himself falling asleep.

_Danny was exhausted as he triumphantly put the lid on the Fenton Thermos. Dan Phantom was gone, and his family was… With the sudden realization that his family was still tied to the Nasty Burger boilers, Danny started racing towards them. The white rings formed briefly around his waist, but then fizzled out because he was too tired to become Phantom. He ran towards his parents, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, and Pamela Manson. It was too far, and he knew he couldn't make it in time to save them, but he had no other choice, he had to try, so he ran. _

_Then as if the world was laughing at him, Danny tripped on a piece of rubble from the battle. His body seemed to fall in slow motion, and as he hit the ground the Nasty Burger exploded with his friends and family inside. Danny didn't hear the explosion as it played in front of his eyes, but instead heard his sister's voice. It was raspy and quiet and said, "Don't give up. Promise me."_

_The scene faded and Danny slowly pushed himself into a sitting position to examine his knee. He had been running after his parents who were in a rush when he tripped and fell hard onto the sidewalk behind them. Danny looked down at his knee and his eyes widened. He was bleeding a lot. Tears welled in his young eyes as he placed a gentle finger to his stinging wound. His fingers came back bloody. He went to wipe the blood on his shirt when a delicate hand stopped him. Danny's watery blue eyes looked up at his sister. She was frowning. "Danny are you alright?"_

_Danny sniffed once but then nodded. The simple action caused his sister to smile. "You are so brave, little brother." Jazz said, "Even though you got hurt, you didn't let it get to you, and I know your wound will heal. That psychology is true for a lot of things."_

"_Jahazz!" Danny whined not wanting to hear another psycology lecture. Jazz had been spouting them more frequently since Danny made friends with Tucker._

"_Well it's true!" Jazz said in exasperation that her brother never listen. Then she frowned again, "Just promise me you'll never give up."_

"_What", Danny started_

_Jazz cut him off, "Sometimes people get hurt, not just physically, but emotionally."_

"_Jazz I'm fine." Danny said embarrassed._

"_Don't give up. Promise me." Jazz said sternly._

"_Alright. I promise." Danny said while holding his hands up in surrender._

"_Good." Jazz nodded. "Now lets go back home to get this bandaged." Jazz said pointing to the cut on Danny's leg._

_Danny sighed in relief that his sister was done with her latest psychology rant and nodded. "Yeah, let's go." He started to stand._

Danny sat up and opened his eyes, but almost immediately closed them. The breeze around him smelled like flowers. That's when he remembered where he was. Danny thought he must have fallen asleep in the willow tree clearing. He felt a warm spot on his face and moved so the sun wasn't on his face. Using more caution this time Danny opened his eyes. The clearing was mostly shaded, but the ice bird was high enough to still be in the evening light. The sun was setting, and the sculpture had been redirecting the light to shine on Danny's face, something Danny was very grateful for. It had woken him up, and he hadn't meant to fall asleep in the first place.

Danny placed his hands under him and pushed himself up. He needed to go home. It was really late and Ida and Jeremy might worry. A quick glance showed him that Specter wasn't in the clearing with him, so Danny called, "Specter", and clicked his tongue. Specter came trotting out from behind the trees opposite him, and Danny picked him up. Danny didn't bother to change to Phantom, since he was so close to the house, still a little groggy from his nap, Danny turned invisible, intangible, and flew home. Danny landed on the back patio and walked inside.

The clock hanging in the sitting room showed that Danny had skipped Lunch, but since it was almost time for dinner anyway he didn't bother to go to the kitchen. Danny first checked on Ida, who had at some point fallen asleep, and then he decided to check out the game room.

The game room wasn't the largest room in the house by far. It was probably 15' by 16' with black walls that only made it feel smaller, but it wasn't size that made this room great. It was the electronics. Opposite the door there was a massive TV. If the screen on that TV was split into four then each of those quarters would likely be bigger than Danny's last TV. Under the TV there was every console ever created, including a computer that used the TV as a monitor. To the left of those there was a bookshelf with black binders labeled for the different consoles. Danny walked over and opened the one labeled Wii and saw that the inside contained practically every game disc you could ever want for Wii, and in the back of the binder there were all the disc booklets. In front of the TV and consoles there was a large U shaped sofa and a coffee table, and behind the sofa there as an extendable table with wooden chairs. It was there for the games on the right side of the room, most of which Danny didn't know what were, such as exploding snap, whatever that was. This room was a paradise, and it made Danny sad that he only had one day left to truly enjoy it.

Danny flopped onto the sofa after starting up DOOM on the computer. He felt a little sad that Sam and Tucker couldn't play it with him, but Danny was more than happy to let his mind wander back to the game.

"GAME OVER", the screen flashed the words for the fifth time in an hour, and Danny sighed and turned off the game. He just couldn't concentrate, so he kept dying. His mind had wandered from Sam and Tuck to Jack, Maddie, and Jazz to Harry. Danny didn't much more about his twin than the fact that Harry was alive. That was the lesser of his worries though. The bigger worry for Danny was his secret. He'd never told Jack and Maddie he was half ghost, and now he was going to be meeting his brother, his twin brother, and Danny didn't think he wanted to hide half of himself.

Danny remembered when he hid his ghost half from Jazz. That was a nightmare. She was constantly suspicious of him and spying on him. He became her entire focus for a while, all because she knew something was different. Danny doubted Harry would be anything like that if Danny did hide his halfa status, but only because Harry wouldn't have a normal for comparison. Still the thought of hiding something so large as his species from his twin made Danny sad. At the same time Danny couldn't imagine how to even tell his brother about his halfa status. Danny was already going to be dropping the bombshell about him being Harry's long lost brother, but then to add the fact that he was half dead. Hell Danny was still at times unnerved by the fact that he wasn't completely human or alive and he'd been like this for two years.

Danny pulled his legs up to the edge of the sofa and and laid the side of his head on his knees. He remained like that for almost an hour, thinking and rethinking the pros and cons of telling his brother. After all that time he still didn't have an answer, but his leg was starting to fall asleep so Danny gave up and went back to his games.

…..

For the first time since they moved Jeremy, Ida, and Danny entered the family car. It was September 1st and today was the day Danny would go to Hogwarts. Last night was when the nervousness had kicked in hard for Danny. He found himself lying in his bed trying to sleep and failing for hours. Then when Danny finally got to sleep it was interrupted by multiple nightmares. The first was the accident, as always focused on the dead bodies and Jazz's dying voice, _promise me._ Then he dreamed about Dan, but instead of his parents, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, and Mr. Lancer being tied to the boiler, it was Jeremy, Ida, and a boy who matched him exactly with the one difference of a lightning scar on his forehead. After that dream Danny almost couldn't go back to sleep, but somehow he managed it, only to fall into another one.

The last one was the most calm and least gory, but more horrifying than the others combined. Danny was sitting in Clockwork's tower looking into one of the time master's many mirrors when Clockwork said, without turning to face him, "The observants told me to eliminate you, Danny Fenton Manson Potter." The ghost of time was in his oldest form. "I chose not to, believing in you. I took you as my responsibility, and you have failed." Finally the ghost turned to Danny. Clockwork's red eyes seemed to hold the weight of not only this world, but every world that ever had, does, and will exist. For the first time since Danny met the ghost Clockwork's eyes looked dead.

The dream Danny seemed unphased by Clockwork's expression as he fell to his knees and sobbed, "Kill me, Clockwork! Kill me before I could kill them! Send me back so I can kill myself! Please!" Danny's tears puddled on the stone floor under his face were he rested his forehead. "Please." He muttered pathetically.

Clockwork only shook his head and turned back the the mirrors. Then after another minute of sobbing Clockwork said, "It's too late."

After that Danny woke up gasping and sobbing. Danny didn't know how many hours he slept, or how many he cried after he woke up, but afterwards he couldn't sleep. Danny spent the rest of the night in front of his window, watching the landscape slowly light up with in the small hours of the morning. When Ida fetched him for breakfast his stillness stopped, and it had yet to return. When he'd been watching the sun come up his mind had been still, but since then Danny's mind had gone into overdrive. With his mind running at a hundred miles an hour, Danny couldn't sit still. He was filled with so much nervous energy he was constantly moving. At one point it had gotten so bad that Danny accidentally became intangible. Danny hadn't done anything like that since the second month after he got his powers.

Now Danny was sitting in the car jiggling his knee as they drove to kings cross station. He was still unsettled from his dreams. The first one was easily explained, but the others were more complicated. The second showed that he was not only afraid of losing his new family, the family he'd only just settled into, but he was afraid of being the reason for their deaths. The third expanded on that making it out to be his fault for ever death so far. Danny didn't consciously think that it was truly his fault they were dead, but know he wondered if subconsciously he felt that way. It was troubling him, but that wasn't the only thing on his mind.

Today he would be in the same place as his brother, and even if Danny didn't meet Harry on the train, Danny would most certainly meet Harry when his name was first called in class. danny didn't want to leave it to that, but he didn't know how to approach Harry, or even what the guy looked like. Danny was brought out of his thoughts when Ida placed her hand on his leg to stop his tapping.

Ida gave him a searching look, "What's on your mind, Thumper?" She asked.

Danny smiled a little at the joke and started to say, "It's nothing", but he was stopped by the look on Ida's face. Danny dropped his smile and said, "There's a lot. Obviously I'm thinking about how to introduce myself to my brother. I don't know if he even knows he ever had a brother, but I don't want our first introduction to come from some teacher calling my name."

"For some reason I don't think that that was all that was on your mind." Ida said knowingly.

Danny sighed. "I didn't sleep very well last night."

"Nightmares?" Ida pushed.

"Just a few memories." Danny looked out his window not seeing the scenery through the glass, but the visions of his dream. "The accident is expected, but I didn't come out of being a hero for two years unscathed."

Ida looked like she wanted to know about the other dream or dreams, but she fought the questions down. To both Danny and Ida's surprise it was Jeremy who broke the silence. "No soldier comes out of war the same way they went in. They go in mostly innocent, and they come out scarred and hardened, but every scar represents a time that soldier didn't die." Jeremy glanced back through the mirror and said, "You have more scars than anyone else I know, but that only proves that nothing can take you down."

Danny looked down at his hands and mumbled, "I'm not scared for myself."

To Danny's shock Jeremy only laughed and said, "Like you'd let anyone die before you. I've only recently gotten to know you, and even I know you'd give up anything to protect the people you care about." Jeremy finished by flashing Danny a proud smile, and Danny gave him a happy smile in return.

The rest of the car ride was silent, but Danny was no longer so nervous. Jeremy pulled into the station with half an hour to spare, but after unloading the trunk, putting Ida in her chair, and convincing Specter to go in his carrying crate, there was only fifteen minutes left. Jeremy rushed down the station with Ida and Danny in tow, and Danny almost crashed into the man when he suddenly stopped in front of a brick wall.

It was a tall red brick pillar that stood directly in the middle of platforms 9 and 10. Jeremy looked back at Danny and said, "We are going to platform 9 ¾." He turned to Ida, "Why don't you show him how it's done?" Before Danny could asked Ida whizzed off like a rocket in her chair, straight at the wall. Danny tried to stop her, but it turned out he didn't have to. Instead of crashing against the wall horribly, like Danny expected, Ida went through it like a hologram.

Danny smiled at the newest wonder of magic and eagerly stepped forward to try the door himself. He only stopped when Jeremy said, "Hold up. There is one rule."

"What?" Danny asked impatiently, wanting to go already.

"Be careful that the muggles don't see you do it." Jeremy smiled, "Now go on. I'll meet you on the other side."

Danny started walking towards the barrier, and after looking around to make sure no one was looking he walked straight through. It felt almost like intangibility, but instead of Danny being intangible the wall was. On the other side was a different station with one platform labeled 9¾. Just under that sign there was an old fashioned steam engine with the words "Hogwart's Express" on the side. Attached to the engine there were about a hundred scarlet train cars. It looked like a sight straight out of a movie.

Just a second after Danny, Jeremy came through the wall. The two boys walked over to Ida, who pulled Danny with surprising strength into a massive hug. "Don't you get into too much trouble, Phantom." She said as she let him go. Danny smiled back at her, but made no promises.

Jeremy placed his hands on Danny's shoulders and looked down at his ward with a fond smile. "I'm glad I adopted you Danny. Life at the Manson Mansion is not going to be the same without you."

Danny blushed lightly and rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm not leaving forever, Jere. I'll be back for Christmas."

Jeremy smiled and ruffled Danny's hair saying, "Doesn't change what I said. Just promise to write at least once every two weeks." Danny quickly promised, and the clock chimed warning that there was only ten minutes left. Danny quickly waved then he rushed to get his luggage on the train.

Danny had no difficulty pulling his trunk and Specter onto the train, but finding a compartment was more difficult. Most of them were full, and the rest were filling quickly. Danny rushed along, and finally he managed to snag one that didn't have people already in it. He pushed his trunk up into the compartment above his head, and then he placed Specter on the seat next to him. Danny opened his window and leaned out. Just as Danny spotted Jeremy and Ida the train started moving with a small jerk. Danny waved until he knew they couldn't see him anymore, and then he ducked back inside.

Danny sat in a seat near the window and watched the scenery pass by, but his solitude didn't last. Danny heard the compartment door open to see two people standing in the doorway. One was a tall boy about his age with black hair blue eyes and a severe overbite. He looked over all like a gangly awkward kid, but nice. Just in front of him there was a shorter girl with long, straight, bright red hair and warm brown eyes. The girl spoke first, "Um, we're sorry to intrude, but could we sit here. There's no where else." Danny nodded and they took a seat. The girl shook Danny's hand. "Hi. I'm Ginny, and this is Neville." She pointed to the kid next to her. Neville gave a nervous wave.

"Danny." Danny briefly introduced.

"I've never seen you before, but you don't look like a first year." Ginny commented.

"I'm actually a transfer student. I'll be going into my third year. What year are you in?" Danny asked trying to keep the conversation going.

"Second." Ginny said.

"I'm in third." Neville said in a nervous tone.

"So we'll probably be seeing more of each other then." Danny said to Neville.

"Some, but not necessarily a lot more." Neville said.

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked.

"He means you still probably won't see much of each other, unless you get into the same house." Ginny elaborated. "Me and Nev are both in Gryffindor, but you could be in any of the four houses."

"Do you know what house you'll be in?" Neville asked politely.

Danny looked at him curiously, "Does anybody before they're sorted?"

Ginny nodded. "Sometimes. For instance everyone in my family for every generation we can remember has ended up in Gryffindor, so I was pretty sure I was going to end up the same. I was really nervous about it though. I was worried I would end up in Slytherin."

"What's so bad about Slytherin?" Danny asked. "Aren't they just clever and ambitious?"

"Sneaky and conniving more like. There hasn't been a dark witch or wizard to date that didn't come from Slytherin house." Ginny stated.

"Not all Slytherin house are dark wizards." Neville defended.

"Yeah, well I've never met a Slytherin who was a good person either." Ginny argued.

Neville shrugged in defeat. "Yeah I can't argue with that."

"Wow. Note to self, don't be Slytherin." Danny said.

"Don't worry. You seem to nice to end up in Slytherin." Ginny said.

"Thanks, Ginny." Danny smiled at her.

The smile gave Ginny the oddest feeling of familiarity, "Huh." She tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"What's up?" Neville asked.

Ginny shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Sorry about that. I just got the oddest feeling like I've seen that smile before." She turned to Danny and said, "I never did get your last name. Mine's Weasley."

"Longbottom." Neville put in.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously and mumbled something under his breath that sounded oddly like, Clockwork help me, before he looked up and said, "My name is Daniel Potter."

For a second everyone was silent, but then Ginny snorted with laughter. She was stopped by Neville who said, "I don't think he's joking."

Danny was looking down at his jeans with his right hand pulling his hair at the back of his neck. He was flat against the back of his seat, as far from the other two as possible. After the compartment was silent for more than a minute Danny started, "I, um, didn't know about Harry, until two months ago. I just, well, I learned I had a brother, and I had to come meet him. I don't even know if he knows I exist. I didn't know he existed, but I can't go back to being ignorant." Danny glanced up through his raven bangs to see Ginny looking him over with a scrutinizing glare, and Neville was just slumping in his seat with his mouth hanging open. The sight was enough to make Danny laugh slightly.

Ginny heard Danny say, "I'm Daniel Potter", and at first she thought it was a joke, but then Neville said Danny wasn't joking. She stopped to really look at Danny. He was sitting as far from her and Neville as possible, a complete nervous wreck, but what Ginny was more concerned with was the fact that Danny looked so much like Harry. He had the same black messy hair, the same nose and lips. There were some differences. His eyes were glacial blue, his jaw was a little rounder, he looked to be a bit taller than Harry, and of course no scar. Despite the differences once she knew who he was Ginny wondered how she ever could have missed it.

Finally Danny shifted his eyes back up to hers, and then he glanced at Neville and laughed. Ginny broke from her scrutiny of Danny to see why he was laughing, and then at the sight of Neville she started laughing too. Having two people laughing at him seemed to be the magic recipe to make Neville stop gaping, and it was his turn to turn bashful. After the laughter died down Ginny said to Danny, "This is huge you realize." Danny nodded seriously, and Ginny said, "You have to meet Harry as soon as possible."

"I-I don't even know where he is on this train." Danny started, but his excuse was cut short when Neville helpfully supplied that he knew where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were. "Ron and Hermione?" Danny asked.

"Harry's best friends. Come on I'll show you!" Neville said excitedly while grabbing Danny to drag him along. Danny slipped Neville using intangibility and told Neville to wait a second. Then Danny unlocked Specter's crate so the cat could follow and motioned Neville to go head.

Neville was in front, leading the way down the long corridor. Danny was in the middle with Specter walking next to him. Ginny took up the back following the other two. About halfway to the end of the train Ginny and Neville started to get cold, and it continued to get colder as they went until they were shivering. Danny finally noticed the cold because the two humans were shivering. Then without warning the train stopped. Ginny frowned at the strange occurrence, but Neville spotted what he was looking for and pointed to a compartment, it was almost the last one on the train, and said, "That's the one." Just after he said that the lights flickered, and as they reached the targeted compartment the lights went off.

Danny grabbed the arms of the two humans and said, "Here." He lead them to the compartment door and slid it open. Neville went in first with Ginny and Danny saw and heard them trample the people who were in the small space. Ginny found a seat with a little difficulty, but Danny got impatient with Neville and just shoved him into a seat. Danny stepped fully into the room and was taking a seat next to Ginny when a man who had awoken in the corner pulled out his wand and muttered "_Lumos_". A light appeared on the end of he man's wand, and after his eyes adjusted to the light Danny saw everyone in the car clearly for the first time.

Besides Ginny next to him and Neville across from him there were three other teenagers and one adult. The man holding the wand was in greying brown robes that were passing the point of being described as well worn and were heading towards the title of rags. The man had light brown hair and eyes. His skin looked pale with dark circles under his eyes, and the pale wand light did nothing to make the man look healthier. Behind the man next to Neville there was a girl with a mass of brown curly hair that stuck out everywhere. Danny guessed she was Hermione, but he didn't notice anything about her beyond that when he saw the boy sitting on the other side of her. He was skinny and short with a mess of thick black hair that went in every direction. His bangs rested just above the tops of his round glasses. His eyes were emerald green, and his chin ended in a point, but otherwise the boy looked exactly like Danny. He was Danny's brother Harry.

The lights went out and just seconds later Ginny and Neville entered their compartment. Harry scooted as close to the window as he could to get out of his friend's way. Then just as everyone settled the teacher Mr. Lupin used his wand to light up the room. That was when Harry realized that Neville and Ginny weren't alone when they entered, but came with a boy. The boy was short and skinny and had thick black hair that stuck out in every direction. The boy's bangs stopped just above his eyebrows. His chin was rounded, and his eyes were ice blue. Just then the boy's eyes locked with Harry's own emerald ones and Harry saw a look of recognition flash across the boy's face. Then Harry gasped and muttered, "It can't be."

Neither boy were able to do anything more after that, because at that moment the compartment door opened for the second time. The hand that gripped the door looked almost skeletal, but it was covered in a grey slimy looking skin, like a snake, and almost every inch of it was covered in what looked like scabs. The creature pushed the sliding door open to reveal long, tattered, black, robes with the hood pulled up over the things face, which it tilted upward, as if to sniff the air. Then the thing sucked in an endless rattling breath and everyone found themselves doused in a horrible feeling. It was like their insides were freezing from their hearts outward, and at the same time they felt as if all the happiness in the world had disappeared. They felt cold, sad, and afraid.

As soon as the feeling arrived Harry found himself getting dizzy. Then he heard a scream, but he wasn't able to say anything before he fainted. Danny found himself similarly dizzy, but the feeling of his happiness being drained was familiar from his fights with Spectra, and Danny fought it. The cold and dizziness was too much for the halfa though, because he only lasted long enough to see a flash of white light appear before he heard the screech of truck brakes and everything went black and he followed his brother into unconsciousness.

Danny found himself being shaken awake and he shot up so fast he accidentally hit Neville. "Oww!" Neville exclaimed clutching his nose.

Danny winced as the wound started bleeding. "Oh, sorry!" He barely finished his sentence before Specter launched himself into Danny's arms shivering. Danny caught the cat automatically and set about calming the poor thing almost immediately.

"That cat of yours has been a wreck since you passed out." the bushy haired girl, Hermione said. Danny didn't answer the girl as he watched Neville grip his nose and tilt his head up to try and stop the bleeding. Danny grimaced at the sight, knowing how much it sucked to have a bloody nose.

"Here let me look at that." The ragged man said. He gently pressed Neville's nose making the boy hiss and proclaimed. "It's not broken. I'll stop the bleeding." The man raised his wand and muttered a few words, and as promised the bleeding stopped. Then the man cast another spell to remove the blood.

Danny finally woke up enough to take notice of his surroundings. Everyone was pale, like they were afraid, though Neville's could have been from blood loss, and Ginny was shivering. They compartment was normal temperature again, so Danny knew Ginny wasn't shaking from cold as she stared out the window. Even the animals were nervous. Specter was finally calming in Danny's arms, but Hermione was still trying to calm her own cat, Crookshanks. There was also a bright white owl twittering above the noise from the back of one of the bench seats. The man who healed Neville was double checking that everyone was alright, and a red haired boy, Danny thought was Ron, was shaking Harry awake. Obviously Danny wasn't the only one who passed out.

Harry woke up with a groan and everyone turned to him. Everyone was silent while Harry picked himself off the floor of the train. They were all thinking about the creature that had attacked them, but they were brought out of their thoughts by a snapping sound. The man handed each person a piece of chocolate, making sure to give extra large pieces to Harry and Danny, and said, "Eat those. You'll feel better."

"What was that thing?" Harry and Danny asked at the same time before glancing at each other and away rubbing the backs of their necks nervously.

The new teacher Professor Lupin frowned at the odd behavior as he answered matter-of-factly, "Dementors. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to the driver about something." Danny moved out of the man's way so the man could leave, and then the questions started.

Harry asked, "So what happened?"

The redhead, Ron, answered, "Well you sort of fainted, mate. You and this bloke here." Ron gestured to Danny.

"What?" Danny asked confused.

Hermione started, "Well you see the creature, Dementor, came in here, and"

Ron cut her off, "And it got cold, and I felt as though I'd never be cheerful again."

"It was terrible." Neville added.

"Then the professor told the thing to leave", Ron continued the story, "and when it didn't he shot some sort of white light at it to make it leave, and you two", he paused, "you know." (AN: I'm feeling to lazy to look up the actual lines, so you'll have to deal with paraphrasing.)

For a minute the silence returned as everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Harry wondered why only he and the other boy were the only two to faint, but his mind didn't stay on the event very long when he remembered the other boy's presence. Harry looked up at the same moment as Danny and their eyes locked again. "You can't be who I think you are." Harry said.

"Who do you think I am?" Danny answered with a sheepish grin. The other teens in the compartment watched the conversation with confusion on Ron and Hermione's part, and interest on Neville and Ginny's part.

"Someone long dead." Harry answered.

Danny started "My name is Danny -"

"Potter." Harry finished with a whisper that almost no one heard, and Danny, who had super hearing, nodded. A million emotions rolled through Harry. Joy, confusion, shock, and surprise hit him in waves.

At that moment Neville interrupted. "Hey guys." He looked pointedly at Ginny, Hermione, and Ron. "Let's give them some time to themselves."

"Why?" Ron asked oblivious as always.

"Because he's my brother!" Harry exclaimed impatiently causing Ron and Hermione to drop their jaws in sync. Ginny saw that Ron and Hermione didn't seem to be moving anywhere in their shock, so she opted for a more direct approach to move them, aka she literally shoved them out the door. Then Neville grabbed Hermione's cat Crookshanks and followed the others out. Danny flashed Ginny and Neville a grateful look just before the door closed, and then he and Harry were alone.

Harry was silent for at least three full minutes. Danny knew this because he started counting during the pause. Finally Harry muttered, "How?"

"How what?" Danny asked back.

"How are you alive? How are you here?" Harry expounded on his original question.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck for what seemed like the billionth time today and he said, "Um, I'll answer in order I guess." Harry nodded for Danny to continue and Danny complied. "I'm alive, because I never died."

"Then why was I told you were dead?" Harry said more firmly as he started to get over his original shock.

"I don't know. I guess when no one could find me, they just assumed the worse." Danny shrugged.

"So where were you then, since you weren't dead?" Harry asked.

"America." Danny answered. "Jack and Maddie Fenton found me on their doorstep when I was one. I had a picture of my, our biological parents, and a note with the smallest amount of detail required. They tried to find my family, but they never thought to look out of the states, so they didn't find anything."

Harry listened intensely to Danny's answer, but it seemed with every answer Harry received he formed two new questions in return. "So how did you find me when your," he paused and then said, "family", questioning Danny's relationship to the Fentons before Harry finished, "couldn't."

Harry regretted the question when he saw Danny's mood go from a little awkward and curious to sad. "My family, they, um, died. In a bus crash."

"I'm sorry." There wasn't much else Harry could say.

"It's, well not fine, but I'm, getting over it slowly." Danny sighed, "It was actually the accident that lead me to you, in a weird way. I just happened to mention my birth name to a family friend afterwards, and he recognized my name." Danny quickly moved on not wanting to linger on the accident. "Jeremy, the man who recognized my name, is a wizard from around here, so he of course knew about the murder of our parents. He told me who I was, and that I had a twin brother. He even adopted me and moved back here to the UK so I could meet you."

Harry smiled as it finally sank in that he had a brother. He had family, the Dursley's didn't count. "What?" Danny asked.

Harry shook his head, "I just can't believe you're really here."

Danny smiled back, "I'm glad I am."

After that Harry and Danny talked more about their lives since their separation. Danny told Harry about Jazz and his parents, who were ghost hunters, and that lead to a long conversation about the difference between ghosts, the tangible being of Amity, and spirits, which were the type of ghost that roamed Hogwarts. Spirits were barely even considered ghosts by most ghosts, because they had so little power. After that Harry talked about how his life with the Dursleys was horrible, but how much better his life was now that he went to Hogwarts. Harry loved Hogwarts, and it was apparent to Danny that that was his brother's true home.

The twins were so wrapped up in their conversation that they didn't notice the time going by until Danny saw that it was dark out the window. "Whoa, it's late."

"Yeah. I lost track of time talking." Harry said.

"I guess we should change into our robes." Danny said.

Harry nodded in agreement and said, "You need to go back to whichever compartment you left your trunk in then."

"I can send Ron and Hermione back once I'm there." Danny said.

Harry groaned, "I forgot about them. They're going to have so many questions." Upon seeing Danny's questioning look Harry added, "I never told them I had a brother."

"I thought my murder was famous?" Danny asked.

Harry shook his head, "The story is that I lost my family, I never specified that I lost more than just our parents."

Danny chuckled, "Looks like people are going to be even more confused than I thought." Danny got up and opened the door, "I'll be back in a minute."

"Kay." Harry said as he watched Specter follow Danny out.

Danny found Neville, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione in the compartment with his trunk. Neville and Ginny were already in their robes. Ron and Hermione were glad to know they could go back to put theirs on, and they were followed out by Ginny and Neville. Danny changed in the compartment as quickly as possible, glad for the privacy, and headed back to the last car on the train.

Harry sat quietly and absent mindedly stroked Hedwig. When he started talking to Danny he'd felt so shocked and nervous, it was almost like he was afraid, but that feeling was quickly replaced. Slowly as they talked Harry began to feel a kind of excited happiness, and for some reason Harry thought that Danny felt the same. It was indescribable going from having no family, from being oddly alone, to having a brother. Not only a brother, but a brother he was close to, and Harry already knew they would be close. They just seemed to get along, and Harry felt peacefully happy that he wasn't alone anymore.

**Author's Notes: **_Another chapter down, and the twins finally met. I hope you enjoyed it, I was trying not to make it too sappy or awkward, but I wanted there to be some realistic nerves. Also in the prisoner of azkaban Neville and Ginny seem to enter the Harry, Ron, and Hermione's compartment for no reason, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to introduce Danny. I also changed the Dementor attack so it was much earlier, because I wanted to give Harry and Danny some time to talk on the train. I know you were all waiting for this moment, so R&amp;R, and next chapter we'll settle Danny into Hogwarts._


	6. Hogwart's School For Ghosts

**Chapter 6**

Explaining to Ron and Hermione that Harry and Danny were twin brothers took both brothers, Neville, Ginny, and the remainder of the train ride. It wasn't really surprising considering that Harry's friends had known him for two years, and Harry never once mentioned Danny. Eventually the idea of Harry having a brother sunk in, but by then the train was arriving at Hogwarts.

Danny, Neville, and Ginny split from Harry, Ron, and Hermione to go get their luggage from their original compartment. Then with their luggage in tow the three made their way out of the train. The first thing Danny noticed stepping off the train was the torrential downpour, but that was quickly forgotten as Danny got a look at the towering castle. He'd heard that Hogwarts was a castle, but he never would have imagined something like this.

It was made of dark stone, the same shade as Specter, with many towers and turrets. It rose high into the sky. Still the castle was a distance away, so Danny knew there was one more transport to reach the entrance.

Above the heads of all the students getting off the train, there was a man. At least what Danny thought was a man. He was at least eight feet tall and three feet wide, and he had black wiry hair that obscured his face in a mass of undistinguished hair and beard. Only the man's nose and beady black eyes were visible through the mass, but Danny, who was never one to be intimidated by size, could sense the jovial kindness in the man. Perhaps it was the way his eyes crinkled, smiling at the student, or the way he waved his lantern and shouted enthusiastically for the first years to follow him, but Danny immediately liked the man.

Neville caught Danny staring at the giant man and said, "Oh that's Hagrid. He's the gamekeeper, and all the first years go with him to Hogwarts by boat."

"That includes me doesn't it?" Danny asked.

"This is your first year at Hogwarts, so I suppose so. And don't let his size fool you. Hagrid's a softy." Neville answered.

"Well I guess I'll see you guys later then." Danny said to Neville and Ginny who were still waiting with him.

Ginny nodded, "We'll tell Harry you went with hagrid."

"Thanks." Danny said as he waved. Then he made his way over to the man, Hagrid. As Danny got closer Danny realised he had originally underestimated his size. Hagrid was about ten feet tall and four feet wide. In fact he looked almost the exact size as Frostbite.

Danny walked directly up to the man, who was looking down his list. After Hagrid counted up kids and made sure he had all the people he was waiting for he lead them to a group of boats. "A'right. Only four to a boat" Hagrid instructed, "Now everybody climb in." Danny ended up in the boat to the left of hagrid with two little girls and a boy who wouldn't stop talking about his older brother Colin who was in Gryffindor with Harry Potter. That was the main point of the kids stories, that Colin knew harry. Danny made a silent note to mention the conversation to Harry later.

Danny had to admit the boat ride might have been a nice way to be introduced to the castle, if it weren't for the rain. They weren't on the water long before all the students were drenched. To make the ride worse Davis, Colin's younger brother, got over exuberant at one point and landed in the lake only to be shoved back into the boat by a giant squid. After that the students were more than happy to arrive at the castle just so they could get out of the boats, and out of the rain.

Hagrid lead the shivering mass of students, as quickly as he could, to the castle. Inside the entrance hall the first years gathered together in a close group. The entrance hall was huge. the ceiling was at least twenty feet above them, and the back wall was at least three times that distance. The size wasn't the only thing that made the room impressive. It had all the architectural charm of a medieval castle. There were paths and staircases leading beyond where the students could see, it made the castle seem unending, and on the walls there were paintings of every size and style. Danny stopped focusing on the castle entree when a woman called attention from the front of the group.

"Students." The woman called. She was a very thin witch who wore dark emerald green robes and a matching hat. Her large eyes were somewhat hidden behind a pair of boxy spectacles, and her lips were pressed in a thin line that seemed to imply she would tolerate no nonsense. "My name is, Professor McGonagall. I teach transfiguration here at Hogwarts, and I am the head of Gryffindor house. Here at Hogwarts there are four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Before I join you with your fellow classmates you will be sorted into one of these four houses. While you are at Hogwarts your house will be like your family and you actions will reflect on the rest of your house. Here at Hogwarts good behavior and deeds are rewarded with house points, and similarly for bad behavior we will take away points. At the end of the year the house with the most points will win the house cup." The professor paused and looked over all her students. She seemed to be trying to peg any troublemakers early. Once satisfied she nodded to herself and said, "Now, follow me. I'll lead you to where you will be sorted."

The woman lead them down a narrow hallway, narrow meaning only four students could walk next to each other, and stopped next to a door at the end. "I'm going to leave you here for a moment and when I get back, we will walk through these doors. I want you to wait just inside the room, and when I call your name you will come forward. Mr. Potter." McGonagall turned to Danny and said just to him, "Since you are a transfer student I will call your name last."

Danny nodded his acknowledgement to the professor and she walked through the door. Whispers broke out as soon as the teacher left and the young boy who fell in the lake asked Danny, "W-wh-what d-did s-sh-she m-mean, Potter?" The poor boy could barely speak for his teeth chattering. Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously, but he was saved having to answer when the professor came back and motioned the students to follow her.

Danny walked through behind all the other students and found himself in a large dining hall. He and the others were standing between a long table where all the teachers were sitting and four other long tables filled with students. Next to the group of students Professor McGonagall was standing in front of a raggy old wizard hat, holding a scroll of paper. The entire hall seemed to be paying the hat their attention, and the reason was soon made apparent when the wrinkles in the hat formed a sort of face that began to sing. The hat's song told a tale of the four founders of the school who wanted to teach different kinds of students. Then it explained that they made the hat to sort the students for them long after they were gone. Danny thought it was a bit risky taking a personality test that could talk to your teachers about your answers afterwards, but he hoped he could ask the hat not to mention anything about his not-quite-human status.

Soon enough McGonagall was calling names and a pattern formed. The teacher called a name, then the student walked shakily to the stool and put on the hat, after a moment the hat called out a house, and then the house clapped from their table while the new student joined them. It went by surprisingly quickly considering the hat was judging the personality of the students. Finally all the names were called. Over the period of time Danny had learned which tables belonged to which houses, and he found his brother half way down the table.

By the end of the first years some small amount of whispering had started back up throughout the hall, but it was silenced completely when the emerald clad witch called, "Daniel Potter." The silence pressed on Danny, but the stares were worse. Every student and every teacher watched each of Danny's steps to the stool. Then Danny sat down and the hat was placed on his head.

The brim of the hat blocked Danny's sight of the rest of the students and a voice sounded in his head. "Another Potter?" The hat sounded a little surprised. "I'd heard you were dead, but it seems that was only half true."

"Please don't tell anyone." Danny immediately asked.

"Of course not, but I am not here to interview a superhero, no. I am here to sort you, which is difficult. Like your brother you would do well in Slytherin," the hat ignored the immediate fear he felt from Danny at the name and continued, "but you don't want to go there. Just as with your brother, not Slytherin, so you will be GRYFFINDOR!" The last word was called aloud and the table to the far right broke into applause.

Danny smiled as he slipped off the hat and went to sit with his brother. Danny sat next to Ron and Neville just opposite Harry, and the questions and introductions quickly began. Next to Neville there were two boys, Seamus and Dean, who were in Danny's year, and would be sharing a dormitory with him. On the other side of Ginny there were two identical redhead boys who introduced themselves, "Hello. We're Fred," one boys stopped.

The other boy picked up where the first left off, "and George Weasley. We"

"are Gryffindor's"

"beloved twins"

"and resident pranksters, but"

"we didn't know Harry had a brother."

Danny took a second to get used to their speech pattern but then he responded, "Well you're not the only twins now." The twins gaped for a moment, but they were brought back by Ginny's giggle.

"Harry," They rounded on Danny's brother together.

"you"

"had a"

"twin brother"

"and you never"

"told us."

"How could you?" George finished.

"Um, I didn't know." Harry answered a little nervously, because everyone within hearing distance was paying attention to the conversation.

"How" Fred started.

"could you"

"not know?" Danny already knew that the twins talking back and forth would get annoying fast, but somehow he thought telling the twins that would only encourage them.

Harry seemed to really hate all the attention which was being pointed at him, so Danny turned the attention back towards himself. "I was pronounced dead with our parents apparently." Danny successfully grabbed everyone's attention, and Harry sent him a grateful look.

Dean asked, "So if you weren't dead?" Where were you, the rest of the question was implied, but not missed.

"I was in America. Don't ask me how I got there, I don't know, but I was adopted by a muggle family and have been living ignorant of magic for the last eleven years of my life." Danny explained briefly.

"How'd you manage that? Wouldn't they detect your magic earlier than that?" Danny didn't catch who asked the question, but he answered anyway,

"Not where I'm from. Amity, Illinois is so haunted that the spectral energy actually messes with magical energies. Making magic impossible to detect accurately." Danny explained.

Hermione immediately jumped at new knowledge. "I don't know much about spectral energy. I know that some ghosts have the ability to manipulate objects in the physical world, but beyond that not much is known. I looked in the library once out of curiosity, and wizards don't seem to have much more information than that."

"I doubt he wants to teach you about ghost, Hermione." Ron laughed.

Hermione blushed and defended, "I'm just curious."

Lavender spoke up from besides Ron, "I'm personally more curious how Danny found Harry if he didn't even know he was a wizard."

"Who are you?" Danny asked making Lavender blush.

"Lavender Brown." Danny smiled politely and answered her.

"I mentioned that I was adopted to a family friend. It just turned out that he was a Wizard from around here and he knew my name. He told me a little about my birth parents and then said that I had a brother." Danny said.

"So you came to England, just like that?" Hermione asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Well it was more complicated than that. I had to catch up on my school work-" Danny was cut off.

"But wait." Ron said incredulously, "That's two years worth of school. When did you say you started learning?"

Danny blushed and rubbed the back of his neck shyly, "Um, I learned about Harry at the start of the summer and started learning a week later." All the students in hearing range stopped everything they were doing to gape at Danny. They didn't even try to hide it. Danny's blush deepened, so Harry decided to return Danny's earlier favor and turned the attention back to himself.

"I didn't even know Danny was alive until I met him today on the train." It worked. Everyone, except Ron who still couldn't believe how quickly Danny got through his school work, turned to Harry.

"Wait. You met him _today_!" The Weasley twins said at the same time.

Harry nodded and said, "I mean I knew I was born a twin, but I thought he was dead, like everyone else."

Danny snorted, "I'm glad you were wrong."

"Me too." Harry agreed.

After that conversations finally turned away from Harry and Danny, but they were still mostly about Harry and Danny, even it the boys themselves weren't involved in the conversations. Danny finally was able to really eat. He'd eaten a few bites here and there between questions, but while talking there was only so much eating he'd been able to accomplish. Now he was more than happy for everyone to talk around him while he ate, and the food was amazing. Maybe it was the fact that his mom, Maddie, wasn't much of a cook that allowed him to enjoy the meal so much. Danny didn't think so, because Ida was a very good cook, and this food blew her cooking out of the water.

"Breath much?" Ginny was only half joking as she watched Danny scarf down mashed potatoes.

Danny swallowed then said, "You try giving an interview on an empty stomach." Then he went back to eating.

Ginny laughed and Harry agreed, "Yeah no kidding. I don't know how you did that. I hated the attention when I first entered the wizarding world."

"You still hate the attention." Hermione reminded him.

"Yeah, but now I'm mostly used to it. Danny's not." Harry replied.

Danny slowed down his eating now that he wasn't starving anymore and said, "Actually I need to tell you something about that later Harry. Remind me when we're not so surrounded to tell you what experience I have with crowds."

That comment caught the attention of Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Ginny, but Danny dodged all further questions on the subject. Then Danny said, "So I've heard Hogwarts is haunted, but I haven't seen a ghost since I arrived."

It was as if Danny's words were a que, because at that moment the ghosts started flooding the dining hall. They appeared from the walls, ceiling, and floors, silvery white and intangible. The ghost made a show of greeting the teachers and then the house ghosts floated around their own tables introducing themselves to the new students. Danny heard one ghost a few seats away talking to Dennis Creevey "Hello young man. Welcome to Gryffindor."

"Hi! Are you a ghost!? Are you Nearly Headless Nick!? Is it true that your head is only attached by a small thread of skin!?" Dennis rapid fired questions, not taking notice that Nick didn't seemed to like being called Nearly Headless, or being reminded of the fact that there was skin attaching his head to his neck.

The ghost looked at a loss for words, but he was unintentionally rescued by Dennis's older brother, Collin. "Yeah! That's Sir Nicholas, but he doesn't like it when you call him nearly headless! He's a ghost! All the people flying around are Ghosts!" Collin seemed to forget Sir Nicholas was there as he went into a long explanation of ghosts to his brother, who occasionally interrupted with a "Cool!"

Nick shrugged and moved down the table, but stopped in front of Danny. Danny was looking down at his plate trying not to get recognized. It didn't work. "Hello there. You're the transfer student aren't you?"

Danny sighed. He knew that as soon as he looked up chances were this ghost would recognize him as Danny Phantom Pariah's Bane, so, to hint that he didn't want to be known as Danny Phantom, he looked up and said, "Yes. My name is Danny Potter. I'm Harry's brother." The ghost seemed to freeze at seeing Danny's face. Harry and Hermione noticed the odd behavior, but Danny asked, "What's your name?" and Nicholas unfroze so they brushed it off as surprise that Harry had a brother.

"Sir Nicholas De Mimsy Porpington, but everyone just calls me Sir Nicholas." Nick eagerly reached out his hand and shook Danny's. Danny didn't realise what he was doing was odd in any way, but Nick looked delighted to shake Danny's hand,

"That name is a mouthful. I get why people shortened it." Danny commented as though nothing strange had just taken place, which to him nothing had. Everyone else, who noticed, was disbelieving that Danny had just touched a ghost.

"How did you do that?" Ginny asked.

"Do what?" Danny said back in a confused tone.

"He didn't." Sir Nicholas quickly covered.

"I saw him grab your hand." Ginny insisted, reminding Danny that the ghost here were all spirits and therefore intangible 24/7.

"No, it just looked like I did." Danny lied. "It's a common courtesy not many humans know about. Sometimes a ghost will greet you and try to shake your hand, and you're supposed to pretend to shake hands, go through the movement's even if you can't touch them."

"I didn't know that." Ginny bought it.

"Like I said, it's not common knowledge, and it's going out of practice anyway." Danny covered his tracks for why no one Ginny asked would ever know about Danny's made up courtesy. After that the subject was dropped, but Nicholas looked like he wanted to say more.

Danny had an idea and invisibly made a duplicate of Phantom. He made the duplicate intangible so he'd match the silvery see through look of the ghosts around Hogwarts and then let his duplicate become visible besides Sir Nicholas. To his credit Nick only jumped a little at Danny Phantom's sudden appearance. "Sir Nicholas, could I speak with you in the entrance hall."

"Of course, Phantom." Nick said with a little bow. Danny made his duplicate invisible again to hide his blush. It was harder to hide on his original that was still sitting at the table, but luckily no one was looking at Danny Potter right now. Nicholas turned back to the original just as Danny controlled his expression. "If you would excuse me Mr. Fenton, er, Potter, I have other business to attend."

"It was nice meeting you Sir Nicholas." Danny dismissed the ghost.

"The pleasure was all mine." Nicholas said in return before he turned and floated away through the wall to the entrance hall next to them. Just on the other side of the wall Nick was met with the sight of a fully tangible Phantom. "It truly is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Phantom, but I have to question you not telling at least your brother about your other half."

Danny sighed, "I just met him today, Sir Nicholas. I haven't had the chance to tell him much about my life, let alone that I'm only half alive."

"Could you explain further?" Sir Nicholas asked respectfully.

Danny nodded. "I was adopted by the Fentons when Lily and James Potter died. The Fentons couldn't find my biological family and eventually gave up, but then I told my real name to a wizard, and he knew who I was. The rest is history. If you like I'll meet you and the other ghosts later to tell you the full story."

"That is very kind of you Phantom." Nicholas said, "I believe I speak for all of us when I say we'd appreciate it."

Danny nodded. "I will meet with you tomorrow night after everyone else is asleep, if that works for you." Sir Nicholas nodded so Danny said, "I don't actually know my way around here yet, so do you know a place where we could meet privately?"

"Just meet me here and I will take you to the others." Sir Nicholas said excitedly.

"Until then." Danny waved, and then let the duplicate fade out as Sir Nicholas waved back. Nicholas hovered there stunned that he had just met pariah's bane, and that pariah's bane was only thirteen. Then he recovered and he immediately started spreading the word that he was calling a meeting between all the ghosts, including peeves, tonight.

The rest of the welcoming feast was uneventful. People finished up desert and started to catch up with their friends, and slowly the decibel level rose as everyone finished. When Danny felt as though he couldn't take another bite the food disappeared leaving only clean gold plates and silverware in it's place. From the center of the teacher's table Dumbledore stood up to give his speech. (AN: Once again I'm too lazy to look up the actually thing, so you'll just have to deal with what I remember.) "Welcome, students, to another wonderful year here at Hogwarts. Now I know we're all feeling sleepy and ready for bed after another wonderful feast, but I'm afraid I must keep you from sleep for a moment longer. First, Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to tell the new students, and remind a few of those returning", Dumbledore's eyes seemed to pause on the Weasley twins, who were grinning madly, when he said that. "that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students. Also Fanged Frisbees have been added to list of forbidden items. The full list can be found on Mr. Filch's door. I would also like to go further than my regular warnings this year, because this year Hogwarts is playing host to the dangerous guards of Azkaban Prison to aid the Ministry in the capture of Sirius Black. They are posted at all entrances and exits to the castle grounds. They can not be fooled by any form of invisibility," Dumbledore's eyes landed on Harry before he continued, "or any other tricks, so I hardly think I need to warn you to give them no reason to distrust you. Dementors will not differentiate between the person they hunt, and a person who gets in their way." Suddenly Dumbledore's serious demeanor changed back to his more cheerful one. "But enough of that. Now it's time for bed."

With much murmuring about Dumbledore's warnings the student's stood up to leave for bed. "Come on. I'll show you the way to the common room." Harry said. Danny nodded and followed Harry out back into the entrance hall and then up a staircase at the back of the room. Harry lead Danny down a few hallways up to Gryffindor tower. As they walked the painting's occupants moved from frame to frame talking with their friends and waving to the new students, and in the tower Danny watched the staircases move with great interest. It was going to take some getting use to. Then Harry stopped in front of a painting and said, "I don't know the password yet." Harry cursed himself, but he was saved by Ginny.

"Don't worry. Percy told me the password." Ginny said to Harry before she turned to the painting and said, "Fortuna Major." The woman in the painting nodded her acceptance and the painting swung forward revealing a large doorway. With Ginny leading the way they all entered the portrait hole.

"Welcome to the common room." Harry said to Danny. It was a large circular room with a large fireplace and many plush chairs, sofas, and wooden tables and chairs. The room was decorated in gold and maroon, the gryffindor colors, and there was plenty of space.

Danny didn't give any response to Harry's welcome other than flopping down into one of the seats by the fire. Danny smiled at his brother from the seat and said, "This could become my favorite spot."

Harry laughed as he pulled Danny to his feet. "I'm not done yet, now you need to see the dormitory."

Danny rolled his eyes and followed Harry up the stairs to the left. They walked up three flights of stairs and entered another circular room with six beds, six trunks, and six wardrobes. At the base of the bed at the end on the left there was Danny's trunk and Specter still in his crate, sleeping. Danny immediately let his cat out, and Specter got out to stretch happily before he crawled onto the bed and fell back to sleep. "I never did introduce you to Spec, did I?" Danny asked Harry, who shook his head no. "This is my cat Specter." The cat was just about the size of Crookshanks, which was impressive, because the cat didn't have as much fuzz as Crookshanks to add to the it's mass.

"He's huge." Harry said, "And is he sparkling?" Harry raised an eyebrow at the observation.

Danny nodded just as Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus walked in. "He's a bengal. Their fur glitters in the light."

"What are you talking about?" Seamus asked.  
"Just introducing my cat, Specter." Danny pointed to his cat, who was sleeping on Danny's bed. As the cat breathed in and out his spots sparkled like glitter.

"He's pretty." Neville commented.

Ron just groaned, "Not another one." Danny gave ron a questioning look.

"Crookshanks hates Ron's pet rat." Harry explained.

"Ah." Danny said understanding. "I wouldn't worry too much. If I tell Spec to leave your rat alone then he'll listen."

"Your cat listen's to you?" Dean asked. "My mom has cats, but none of them pay attention to anything she says."

Danny shrugged, "I don't know why, but Specter listens to everything I tell him. Most animals, and all cats, except Specter hate me."

"I didn't notice Crookshanks do anything to you, and he tackled Ron the first time he saw him." Harry said remembering Danny sitting in the crowded compartment earlier on the train.

"That's only because Specter was sitting on my lap guarding me the whole time. You may not have noticed, but Crookshanks never stopped watching me." Danny said.

"Oh." Harry didn't have anything else to say to that, so he just started unpacking his trunk. Danny noticed Hedwig's bird cage and asked about it. "I have an owl." Harry explained. "Her name's Hedwig. You saw her on the train didn't you?" Danny thought back to the white owl he noticed after the dementor attack and nodded. "Hagrid gave her to me for my eleventh birthday." Harry said smiling as he remembered the day. He'd always thought that was the greatest day of his life, but today was turning out to be just as good, if not better.

After that the roommates set about unpacking and going to sleep. Danny was purposefully going slower than everyone else, and after Neville climbed in bed there was just Harry and Danny left. "Do you want help unpacking?" Harry asked. Danny shook his head and quickly finished. "I'm going to bed then." Harry said, but Danny stopped him.

"Actually I forgot something downstairs. Would you come help me look?" Danny asked nervously.

Harry hadn't seen Danny drop anything earlier, but he agreed all the same. He wasn't quite ready to go to bed yet. After they climbed down the stairs back into the common room Harry asked, "So what did you lose."

Danny sat down in his earlier seat and sighed, looking at his feet. "Nothing." He said, "I need to tell you something."

Harry heard Danny's nervous tone and immediately thought he knew what was coming. "You don't have to tell me. I already know about Sirius Black."

Danny asked confused, "What about Sirius Black?"

Harry blinked also confused, "You weren't going to say anything about Black, then what were you going to say?"

"You first." Danny stalled, "What about Black?"

Harry cursed his assumptions and thought about the best way to phrase what he was going to say. Harry was never one for tact however, so he just said, "I learned that Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban to kill me. He was a follower of Voldemort, and apparently he doesn't like that I survived."

"Oh." Danny said surprised.

Harry laughed, "I just told you that a mass murder escaped prison to kill me and all you say is, 'oh'."

"Well he probably won't like it when he learns that I'm alive too, but your thing was still mildly better than what I'm going to tell you." Danny said seriously.

Harry sobered up fast. The only things he could think of that were worse than Black coming after Harry was if Danny was terminal. "You're not dying or anything are you."

Danny smiled, "That's surprisingly close, but no."

"That's not very reassuring." Harry said in a worried tone as he sat down next to his brother.

"I'm not dying." Danny ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "This is so hard to explain. I'll just start at the beginning I guess." Danny looked sideways at Harry. "You know how my parents built a portal to the ghost zone?" Harry nodded.

"You told me about it on the train." Harry said still very worried, but he was trying to be patient.

"Well I didn't tell you the whole story." Danny said. "When they first built the portal it didn't work." With that sentence Danny started his story. He didn't leave out any details. "I felt the button give way under my hand. I looked and saw the on button. I only had enough time to see this wave of green rush at me like a tsunami, then it hit me. It was the worst pain I've ever felt." Danny flinched at the memory as he said, "I felt like every piece of me was on fire. Every atom of my being felt like it was becoming ash, at the same time I felt oddly numb, and I knew I was dying. I was so scared, and at the same time I was glad that it was me and not Sam, Tucker, Jazz, or my parents. It so easily could have been any one of them, but they were safe, and I felt a sort of peace knowing that I was protecting my friends and family from this fate." Danny chuckled quietly, "That probably sounds crazy to you doesn't it?" Danny looked back up to meet Harry's eyes and was surprised to see understanding there.

"Last year I saved Ginny from a basilisk. In the process I was bitten. Basilisk venom is highly toxic, and I was dying, quickly. I felt this painful numbness creeping over me, and my vision started to blur. It was painful, but more scary, but Ginny had just woken up. She didn't know what was going on, so I was focused more on making sure she knew how to get out. I was scared, but I was also glad that she was safe." Harry summarized the end of last year's adventure to demonstrate that he knew exactly what Danny was talking about. "You never told me what saved you." Harry prompted Danny to continue.

"I," Danny paused and then said, "wasn't saved. The portal shocked me with 10,00 volts of electricity and ectoplasm, and it killed me, but only halfway."

"What?" Harry asked frowning with worry and confusion. "That makes no sense, how can you die half way."

"When the portal stabilized I stumbled backwards out of the portal. I don't remember this part, but apparently I passed out and fell backwards. Sam and Tucker tried to catch me, but I fell through their hands literally. When I woke up Sam and Tucker looked scared, and they wouldn't tell me what was wrong. The only thing they would do was point to a mirror. I ran over as fast as I could, and I saw this." Harry didn't have time to ask what before Danny was transforming. Harry jumped out of his seat as a white ring formed around Danny's chest and separated. Quickly the rings moved up and down Danny's body, changing him from human to ghost. Danny continued his story in ghost form. "I looked in the mirror to discover that I was a ghost."

"That's not a ghost. Not that you're a that." Harry added.

"Yes I am. I told you that there are different types of ghosts." Danny insisted. "All the ghosts here, they're what are generally known as spirits. They choose not to move on instead of being held back by an obsession, so they aren't given any ectoplasmic power." Danny explained.

Harry slowly walked to Danny and hesitantly reached out a hand, scared it would go through his brother, but it didn't. His hand was stopped by Danny's chest. Danny was still there, and even if he now had white hair and green eyes, even if he was glowing and cold like ice, at least he was still here. "So you're half ghost?" Harry laughed at himself, "That sounds insane."

"Yeah I've been like this for two years and I still don't get it. Also the ghosts call me a halfa. Half human, half ghost." Danny corrected. Suddenly Harry smirked, making Danny curious, "What?" He asked.

"My title for living through Voldemort's attack is the boy who lived." Harry said as his smirk became a full blown grin.

Danny smiled instantly getting the joke, "And I'm the boy who died." The brothers laughed together and all remaining tension left them.

Now that Harry was more comfortable with the idea of Danny being part ghost he took some more time to really look at Danny. Danny looked exactly the same, except for his hair and eyes, but there was still something about him that had changed. It was Danny's posture, something in the way Danny was holding himself was different more confidently. "What? Do I have something on my face?" Danny finally asked.

Harry stopped his scrutiny and shook his thought free. "I was just noticing all the little differences, and not just your hair." Harry interrupted Danny before he could say there was nothing more than his hair and eyes that changed. "You're holding yourself differently." Harry paused and then said, "I think there's more to tell."

Danny smiled mischieviously, "You have no idea, or actually based on what you said about saving Ginny earlier, maybe you do." Harry raised an eyebrow questioningly. "After I became a halfa ghosts started coming through the portal, malevolent ghosts, so I took it upon myself to put the ghosts back in the ghost zone."

"You captured malevolent ghosts?" Harry said in a disbelieving tone.

"A more accurate description would be to say I became a superhero." Danny said making Harry gape.

Harry got control of his face a bit better and closed his mouth only for it to fall back open in a sarcastic moment. "Let me guess you named yourself Danny Ghost." Harry laughed when he didn't immediately hear denial. "Wait you mean you really called yourself Danny ghost!?" Harry really laughed then.

"No! Not exactly." Danny blushed. "I named myself Danny Phantom." The defence sounded weak even to himself. "My name at the time was Danny Fenton, so when someone asked who I was I almost told the truth, but I changed it last second."

Still laughing Harry concieded, "Okay, Danny Phantom is better, but really you named yourself Phantom? Did anyone figure it out?"

"One person. Remember me telling you that I was living with Jeremy and his mother in law now?" Harry nodded so Danny said, "Yeah. She's the only person who ever figured out my secret."

"Only one person, but you look exactly the same."

"I know."

"And your name is almost that same."

"I know, it made me despair for humanity." Danny said making Harry laugh.

"So are you going to tell me some of these stories then?" Harry asked.

Danny answer, "I would except it's almost 2am."

"What?" Harry squawked in surprise.

"There are classes tomorrow, aren't there?" Danny asked. Harry just groaned in response. "Yep that's what I thought." Danny said while facepalming. Then Danny got an evil smirk, and before Harry could see Danny's look Danny picked up Harry and flew him intangibly to their dorm. Harry let out a loud screech the Danny quickly muffled with his hand. "Shut up!" Danny whisper yelled. "Do you want to wake everyone up!?"

"What the bloody hell was that!?" Harry quietly shrieked in the middle of the dorm.

"Flying through walls." Danny answered with a smirk, and Harry's eyes went wide.

"We have to do that again!" Harry said.

Danny just laughed and said, "Night."

That night both brothers crawled in bed looking forward to the next day with their brother.

**AN:** _Hey everyone. There's a lot I want to say about writing this chapter, so bare with me. The first impression of Hogwarts was really hard to write, and then I realized Dennis gets tossed in the lake in the rain in the third book and I had to rewrite that part. Just thought I'd mention that I had to completely rewrite that part incase you spot any inconsistencies. _

_There were a lot of comments about what house people wanted to see Danny go into. Most of you said Slytherin, a couple said Hufflepuff, and two or three mentioned Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. The sorting was a huge milestone in this story, but in the Harry Potter books, even the short conversation Harry has with the hat is considered unusually long. I wanted to write that Danny was loyal and dedicated, resourceful and ambitious, incredibly smart, and brave, but that level of conversation from the sorting hat is completely out of the hat's character. Also I prefer stories that place Danny in Slytherin. There is a lot of fun tension you can work of the house rivalries, and you can write Malfoy to be less of a dick, but the more I thought about it the more I knew I had to put Danny in Gryffindor._

_I have a vague idea in my mind for a tension between Harry and Danny, but it becomes a soap opera if you add house rivalries on that. Also in Harry Potter, the entire house of Slytherin are jerks. They are so well known to be self serving jerks that they are banned to the dungeons in the final battle of Hogwarts. I reality I don't think every student in Slytherin would be jerks, but that's how they are portrayed in the books. By that argument I could have at least put Danny in Hufflepuff, we all know he's loyal and dedicated enough, but I couldn't do that one either. Hufflepuff is very lacking in characters. I suggest if you haven't you look at the wiki list of characters in each house, because the list for Hufflepuff is so small it's kind of funny. Danny would add some interest to that house, but I would also have to make some OCs, and I want to spend my time writing developing Danny's and Harry's characters, not some hufflepuff. _

_Besides the sorting there was also the ghosts reaction to Danny aka Pariah's Bane, and I really wanted Danny to tell Harry his secret. The main reason that Danny kept the secret from his parents, the Fentons, was because they were ghost hunters. Most of the problems Danny had with telling his parents are obsolete in the wizard world, and though Danny could be nervous about what Harry would think of him, I think the death of his parents would make Danny more afraid of Harry never knowing. Also I want Harry and Danny to be really close in this story and that is hard to achieve if Harry senses Danny keeping secrets. Also I could have put more emphasis on the awe of Pariah's Bane, but I'm saving that for next chapter._

_This was a really important chapter, and you've all been very patiently waiting for this, so I hope I did an acceptable job for you guys. Until next week I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and don't forget R&amp;R._


	7. Potions and Divination

**Chapter 7**

_Danny's stomach turned when he stood up, but he ignored it and pressed a shaky hand to his mom's neck. She was dead. The pronouncement played through his head and Danny choked back a sob. He repeated the action with his Dad, and after coming to the same conclusion he couldn't even bring himself to approach Paulina and Star, let alone Sam and Tucker. Then he heard it. His name. _

_Danny turned and saw in the back of the bus, half under a seat, was his sister. Jazz's eyes were scrunched up in pain, her hair was a mess around her, but most disturbing was the blood pooling under her._

"_D-dan-ny." Jazz coughed out his name. Her eyes looked more than a little glazed over, but Danny could see her struggling to stay awake. "You w-will always b-be m-my hero." _

_Danny felt like her words were tearing his heart out. "No! Don't talk like you're already dead!" Danny yelled at her. "You can't leave me alone!" His voice broke mid sentence and he started begging. "Please! It's not over!"_

_Jazz's eyes were still glazed over, but despite her pain she smiled up at him. "I love you, l-little b-brother. Wake up!"_

_Danny said in a shaky voice, confused, "What?"_

"_Wake up!"_

Danny gasped as he sat straight up in bed. For a second he was confused. He didn't know where he was, or what had happened, all he knew was his sister was dead. He was hyperventilating and crying in the middle of all the boys in his dormitory. He was in his four poster bed in his dormitory in Hogwarts. As Danny remembered where he was he wiped his face off and his breathing calmed.

Finally Danny looked at his surroundings. Harry and Neville were on either side of him, they must have been the ones to shake him awake, and behind Neville at the bottom of his bed were Ron, Seamus, and Dean. Danny groaned and swung his legs out of bed facing Harry. "Sorry about that." Danny apologized sleepily.

"What was that?" Ron asked. Neville and Harry glared at him and Ron looked back at them, his face clearly saying, what did I do.

Danny just shrugged it off. "Just a nightmare."

Harry, Neville, and Dean knew to leave it alone, and silently went back to getting ready. Ron would have asked more questions if Harry and Neville hadn't glared him into silence, but no one glared Seamus into silence. "That didn't look like just a nightmare to me." Seamus said tactlessly, making Dean join in when Harry and Neville turned their glare to Seamus.

Danny ran his fingers through his hair and said, "Yeah. You're right, but I don't want to talk about it." Finally everyone caught the clue, not that it was really a clue anymore, and they all got ready around him.

Danny made an effort to get ready a little slower, so that by the time he was ready to get dressed the other boys were gone. Harry knew Danny needed some time alone and said he'd wait for Danny in the common room. Once Danny was alone he began to get dressed on auto pilot. He was irritated with himself for having a nightmare his first night in the dormitories. His nightmares had been less frequent lately, so he'd been hoping he'd at least be able to keep quiet. Realistically he knew it was likely that someone would see him having a nightmare, but he'd still been hoping differently. Still there was no point worrying about it now. What was done was done.

Before Danny knew it he was pulling on his robes over the school uniform and heading downstairs to meet Harry. Harry smiled welcomingly at the sight of Danny and had lead Danny back out of the common room through the portrait hole they entered last night. Down the moving stairs, through the halls, and past the entrance hall there was the large dining hall, which Harry told Danny was the great hall, that Danny had been sorted in last night. Unlike last night the room wasn't so full of students, though it was far from empty there was only about twenty people per table. There also wasn't a feast. There were plates filled with all sorts of breakfast foods, but there wasn't the overwhelming amount of food that had been present the night before. Danny grabbed a plate with some fruits and bacon, avoiding the toast at all costs, and he sat down next to Harry. Harry sat across from Ron, and Hermione soon joined them carrying a couple of lists.

"Here." She handed out papers to everyone. "Your schedules. I went ahead and grabbed them for you."

"Thanks." Danny mumbled.

Ron was already comparing his schedules with Harry's when he said, "You've got to be joking. We've got rotten luck mate."

"What?" Harry snatched his schedule back and then groaned as he realised what was wrong.

"What?" Danny asked grabbing Harry's schedule. It was exactly the same as his own schedule.

Ron answered Danny's question. "We've got potions first period."

"What's wrong with potions? I mean it's not my favorite class, but it's better than History of Magic." Danny said.

Harry explained, "You would be right if the class was taught by any other teacher, but Potions is taught by professor Snape."

"Foul git." Ron muttered helpfully.

"He is the head of Slytherin house, and he treats anyone who isn't in Slytherin like dirt, and for some reason he hates me." Harry said.

"Sounds like there's no love lost between you. What did you do to make him like that?" Danny asked assuming Harry must have done something to earn the unfavorable behavior from the teacher.

Harry defended himself. "I didn't do anything. I just showed up in class the first day and he started quizzing me like I was supposed to know the answers without ever opening a book and then he basically called me stupid and attention seeking. I'm pretty sure he just hates me because I'm famous or something."

Danny was reminded of Mr. Lancer and he groaned, "I thought I left the bias teachers behind in Amity, but I guess not." Harry would have asked about that, but Specter interrupted by jumping up into Danny's lap. "Specter where did you come from?" Danny asked surprised.

Harry chuckled, "I guess he followed us out of the common rooms. Cats are stealthy he could have just slipped by us."

"I would have noticed." Danny insisted and when he saw no one but Harry was looking at him he flashed his eyes green to explain. Harry got it immediately, but was mostly amused when his brothers cat begged for more attention after Danny made his eyes flash.

Hermione commented on the earlier conversation, "Don't worry Danny, maybe Snape won't hate you immediately. I mean," Hermione faltered under the boy's looks, "he hasn't even met you yet."

Danny rolled his eyes, "Like I'm that lucky. I'm more likely to be more hated than Harry then to miraculously gain the teacher's favor."

Ron looked at the schedule Danny had dropped when Specter landed on him. "At least your schedule matches ours, so you won't have to suffer alone." Then Ron looked briefly over Hermione's shoulder and did a double take. "Hang on." He grabbed Hermione's schedule out of her hands. "They messed yours up. Look," The redhead pointed to the page, "Ancient runes is marked down for the same time as Divination, and Muggle studies is at the same time as Care of Magical Creatures."

Hermione snatched the paper back from Ron. "You don't need to worry about it. I've sorted it out with Professor McGonagall."

"Sorted it out?" Ron said incredulously, "I know you're good Hermione, but even you can't be in two places at once."

Danny watched Hermione's face as she said, "Like I said I've sorted it out." She was blatantly ignoring Ron's question, and it made Danny suspicious that she was hiding something. Not that he had any right to pry, knowing that he was withholding the largest secret. Hermione quickly turned the topic to something else. "Hey, Danny."

"Yeah." Danny acknowledged while both he and Hermione ignored Ron, who was still questioning the girl's schedule.

"Last night you mentioned you were from Amity park, and that the ghosts there were the cause of why your magic was detected so late." Hermione repeated what Danny had told everyone the night before, and Danny nodded that she was correct. "It got me curious about ghosts. There are ghosts all over Hogwarts, and they never interfere with magical energies."

Danny explained, "That's because the ghosts here are powerless. There are a few different types of ghosts." Danny started ticking them off on his fingers. "The ghosts here at Hogwarts are known as spirits. They are people who were afraid of the afterlife, so they clung to this world." Danny ticked off another finger. "The majority of ghosts are people who were prevented from moving on due to unfinished business. After death they form in a parallel dimension known as Evermore, or the Ghost Zone to muggles. Evermore is an ectoplasmic world, and ghosts that form there, instead of clinging to this world, are given ghostly powers."

"Ghostly powers?" Hermione asked. She was very interested, but she wasn't the only one.

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked from behind Danny and Harry jumped in surprise.  
Danny had heard Ginny coming and wasn't shocked by her question. "I was telling Hermione about obsession ghosts."Danny answered Ginny and then added to Hermione, "That's what the ghosts that form because of unfinished business are called." Then he continued his explanation, "The three basic powers of ghosts is intangibility, they are naturally tangible, invisibility, and flight, but they also tend to have specialised powers based on their obsession, unfinished business."

"Those sound dangerous." Harry commented and Ron nodded his agreement.

"They are. There was actually a really bad infestation of malevolent ghosts in Amity that caused the muggles to develop weapons to fight them off. The ghostly battles caused so much property damage in the city that it cost millions of dollars in upkeep every year." Danny explained.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny were shocked that ghosts could cause so much damage, and that muggles had made weapons that could affect them. Hermione noticed something more in Danny's explanation. "You're talking in past tense. Isn't it still the most haunted city in the world?"

Danny rubbed the back of his neck, "Um it was, but I figured out how the ghosts were getting in from the Ghost Zone and I fixed the problem."

"What was it?" Ginny asked.

Danny blushed lightly as he said, "My parents were the ghost hunters of the town, and they kept leaving their ghost portal open instead of locking it. I stopped them from doing that."

Ron, Ginny, and Harry laughed that Danny's parents were the ones to cause all the ghost problems in Amity, but Hermione looked horrified. "How can you laugh. His parents' mistake could have seriously gotten someone hurt?"

Harry's eyes lit up mischievously as he said, "Oh I'm sure Phantom prevented that."

"Phantom?" Hermione and Ron asked at the same time.

Danny glared at Harry for the slip of information he wasn't supposed to know, but Harry saved himself by saying, "Danny mentioned him to me last night. He was a ghost that fought off the other ghosts."

"Like a superhero?" Hermione asked.

Ginny frowned recalling the odd ghost from the night before. "Wait, wasn't that ghost that Sir Nicholas talked to named Phantom?" Danny and Harry both internally winced that Ginny remembered and caught each others eye a moment before Danny explained.

"Yeah, that was Phantom. I did him a favor and brought him with me. He wanted to spend some time in the human world that he wasn't fighting. Hogwarts is the perfect place for that, so when he heard I was coming here he asked for a lift." Danny said. It wasn't good, it connected him and Phantom by more than just a town, but at least it explained why they would both be seen at Hogwarts. Then Danny added as an after thought, "And yes. He was a superhero. I'm pretty sure that was his obsession." Danny shrugged and went back to breakfast.

Ron chuckled making everyone look at him. "Off topic, but I doubt Hermione was thinking she would learn about a whole new species of magical beings and the world they come from when she started this conversation."

Danny laughed with him and said, "I haven't even finished the barest summary about the Amity ghosts."

"What more is there?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"For one I never even mentioned the third and fourth types of ghost that were never human to begin with, but we have to go if we don't want to be late for potions." Danny said, making everyone check the time and rush to get to their first class.

Danny followed quickly after Ron, Harry, and Hermione. They lead him down into the dungeons of the castle where everything was lit by torches. Neville greeted the four of them at the door to the classroom. "Hey guys. Um, Danny what's with the cat?" Neville pointed to Specter, who was still following Danny.

"Shoot!" Danny mildly cursed as he turned to his cat. "Specter," he addressed his cat, "I need you to wait for me in that shadow. I'll be back in an hour." Specter surprised everyone by trotting over to the shadowed corner and laying down for a nap.

"Wow, Dean was right. That cat listens to you almost unnaturally well." Neville commented.

Danny just shrugged and entered the classroom with his friends. Ron and Harry partnered at one desk, and Neville and Danny partnered at the desk next to them. Hermione Sat behind Neville with Pavarti Patil. "Hey Danny, why'd you have your cat wait in the shadow?" Harry asked.

"I don't know the rules about pets wandering the castle yet, and I don't want to get in trouble because my cat follows me." Danny answered.

Hermione overheard and was about to reassure Danny that the pets were allowed even inside classrooms as long as they weren't disruptive, but a different disruptive force interrupted her. "Hey, Potter." Malfoy smirked at Harry, "I heard you fainted on the train. Is that true?"

Harry growled at Maloy's teasing, "Shut up Malfoy."

Danny walked up to Malfoy and held out his hand to shake, "I don't believe we've met, Malfoy was it? I just moved here, but I think I've heard that name before." Ron and Neville looked at Danny like he was crazy, but Harry was just confused.

Malfoy puffed out his chest proudly and shook Danny's hand. "You're the transfer student. Good to see you have more sense than your brother. My father is a very important figure in the Ministry."

"Ah old money." Danny said in an understanding tone. "That explains it."

Malfoy was now becoming a bit confused himself, and found the first bit of suspicion creeping into his mind. He hesitantly asked, "Explains what?"

"Your big head. It has to be that large to fit your ego from being raised under the lie that you are better than others because you have more money." Danny said conversationally. Harry couldn't stop the smile that rose on his face as Malfoy, still gripping his brother's hand, turned pink in furry. Ron and Neville hadn't been expecting that turn of events at all. Ron burst out laughing and a Neville nearly spit.

Malfoy grew steadily more pink as he ripped his hand from Danny like he was electrocuted. "I should have known better than to assume a Potter to show respect." Malfoy sneered as all the Gryffindors in the class snickered.

"I should have known better than to expect any intelligence from a natural platinum blond bully. I guess sometimes cliches are true." Danny shrugged.

"Why you-" Malfoy pulled his wand and threw a curse at Danny, but instead of hitting Danny it hit the wall behind him when he dodged to the side. Just then the professor walked in to see Malfoy standing in front of Danny with his wand out and pointing at the later's face. Danny was unarmed and faked a yawn, making Malfoy grow, if possible, pinker in furry.

Snape came in with his usual ominous presence. All laughter in the room stopped abruptly on his entrance, and his black eyes kept even Malfoy silent when they flickered towards the two boys. His greasy shoulder length hair hung flat against either side of his face, and his over large robes billowed about him when he walked giving him and almost bat-like appearance. Snape's eyes flickered to Danny, and Danny perceptively caught the teacher's eye twitch before he looked to Malfoy. Snape seemed to not notice that Malfoy was threatening Danny and simply said, "Wands away, Mr. Malfoy."

Malfoy muttered embarrassedly, "Yes, sir." As he took his seat on the Slytherin side of the room. Danny raised an eyebrow at the blatant bias. Harry had warned him, but even Mr. Lancer wasn't this bad.

Snape stiffly took his place at the front of the room and said, "By now you have been learning in my class for two years, and you should all know what to do." As the teacher said the sentence he looked at Danny as if daring him to say otherwise. Danny didn't rise to the bait, and figured he'd learn quickly enough whether he'd taken this teacher's class before or not. Snape waved his wand and the chalk on the board began to write instructions to make Blood-Replenishing Potion. It was a potion taught in the third year, but it was notoriously difficult. "Begin." With that word he class flurried into motion.

Danny caught on to what they were doing quickly and gathered the needed materials as fast as he could. Danny soon planted himself at his desk between Harry and Neville as he got to work. At first the class seemed pretty easy. Yes the potion was a little tricky, but as long as Danny read the instructions well enough he knew he'd be fine. Then when most of the class started on the fifth step a pink mist began to rise from the potions that were brewing correctly and the air became thick with fog. As if trying to read Snape's handwriting wasn't hard enough, now Danny had to read it through the pink distortion. Even with his enhanced vision it was becoming a difficult task. Danny glanced over to his brother to see how he was doing just as Harry was about to drop in his three beetles. "Wait." Danny quietly stopped Harry. "You are supposed to add them one at a time over the course of thirty seconds."

Harry's eyes widened and he thanked Danny and fixed his potion. By then end of the class the air was so thick even Danny was working off memory of what the board said. He stirred the potion four times and then turned the fire off. It was supposed to si for the last five minutes of class. Professor Snape stood from his desk and began circling the room. His looming presence seemed to distract most of the class from their work. Snape made a point to complement Malfoy, even though Danny could see from where he was that Malfoy had forgotten the second to last step. Then Snape wove his way through the cauldrons and fog to where Danny and Harry were. He peered into Danny's cauldron first and sneered, but he didn't say anything. Danny took that as a sign that there wasn't anything Snape could criticize in his potion, and he silently cheered that he'd thwarted the bat-like teacher. Then Snape turned to Harry and his sneer turned into a smirk.

"What is this rubbish, Mr. Potter?" Snape barked.

Harry didn't look up from his potion which was not the light blue color the class was trying to achieve, and he said, "It's a blood replenishing potion, sir." Harry kept his voice as respectful as possible, but it was apparent to the entire class that Harry was fuming. His potion was only a few shades darker than it was supposed to be, it wasn't like it was ruined.

Snape looked down his nose at the potion and said, "I wouldn't call it that. Tell me Potter, what does the fifth line of the instructions say?"

Harry took his potion off the fire for the last step and then looked up to read the board. "It says, 'Chop two apricot leaves and dip the chopped leaves into the potion for three second. Take the leaves out and stir the potion for one minute before dipping the leaves in again for another three seconds and stirring again." Harry's heart dropped when he realised he forgot to re-dip the leaves.

"Did you do that?" Snape asked.

Harry scowled, "No, sir. I only dipped the leaves once."

"Correct. The potion you've created would do little to replenish blood, and you're victim, were he dying from blood loss, would continue to do so. This potion is worthless." With that Snape waved his wand and disappeared the potion in the cauldron.

Harry was exceedingly angry as he sat the last few minutes in front of his empty cauldron. The potion wasn't a complete failure, and several of the Slytherin's were much worse. Goyle's potion was billowing black smoke and was an alarming shade of red. It was completely unfair that Harry would now be getting a zero for the class even though his potion was at the very least acceptable.

The last minutes were filled with the giggles of Slytherins and the sympathetic looks of Gryffindors towards Harry as he packed everything up. Danny started packing up what he could, because he knew just as soon as he could Harry would be out of the room. His prediction turned out to be correct, because as soon as Snape called times up Harry picked up and left. Danny quickly deposited his labeled potion on the desk of the teacher, if you could call him that, and then he left the way his brother had. Danny was relieved to see Harry waiting just outside the classroom.

Danny chuckled making Harry aware of his presence as he said, "You and Ron did warn me, but I seriously how is that man still employed here?"

That comment got a half hearted grin from Harry who answered, "I have no idea why he's still here, but he hates me as much as he ever has. I'm surprised he didn't say anything to you though."

Danny smiled guiltily, "I have enhanced sight, because of my half-blood status, so I could see the instructions better. Snape didn't say anything to me, because he couldn't." Harry scoffed still in a foul mood. Danny quickly added, "Not that Snape could really say anything about your's. I've been in situations where I could have made use of a potion like the one you brewed. Even if it wasn't perfect it still worked, just to a lesser extent."

Harry held up a finger to stop Danny and said, "Two questions. How do you know the potion would have worked at all? And what situation have you been in that that potion would have been useful?"

Danny smirked and said, "Snape didn't go so far as to outright lie about your potion when he was putting it down. He said the potion would, 'do little', not nothing to replenish blood, and then he said in a scenario where someone was dying your potion couldn't save them. That means if a person wasn't dying your potion could help them, at least to some extent." Then Danny's expression turned darker and he said, "I told you I was a superhero, but that means I was in a lot of battles. There were many times I could have used a potion like that. I probably could have used one once a week sometimes."

Harry winced and he said, "I didn't think about that part of being a hero. I guess I thought more about the powers you have."

Danny smiled reassuringly at Harry. "Don't worry about it. No one thinks about that part until they see me injured or see a scar, and sometimes they need more than one scar to get the idea through their head. You're not alone."

Harry shook his head. "It still doesn't make it okay. In fact I think that makes it worse. Did anyone think of the reality of what you were doing?"

Danny shrugged and said, "My two best friends, who knew my secret identity, and my sister when she learned who I was. Oh and my arch enemy, but he was just pointing out the downsides of what I was doing so I would agree to be his son and apprentice so we could rule the worlds together."

Harry went bug eyed, gaping until Danny elbowed him in the side and pointed out that the rest of their group was coming out of the classroom. "Man Harry, that sucked." Neville said from next to Ron and Hermione.

"That git. If I was Dumbledore I would've fire the slimy git long ago." Ron said. Harry chuckled and Ron looked at his friend like he was crazy. "What are you so chipper about?" Ron asked.

"Nothing." Harry explained, "It's just that's almost exactly what Danny said."

Hermione put in her two cents, "Come on guys I know he's not the greatest teacher, but he could be worse."

Danny deadpanned, "That man is only a teacher in the loosest definition of the word. Just because he's not an axe murder that doesn't make him an acceptable teacher." No one could argue with that logic, not even Hermione, so the conversation changed.

"By the way Danny, what you did to Malfoy before class was amazing." Hermione said.

Danny smiled and said, "That was nothing. I just had to say something to get him off Harry."

"Hermione's right that was bloody brilliant. I want to remember Malfoys expression forever." Ron backed his friend.

"I'm serious that guy's nothing but a pompous idiot. I almost feel bad for him." Danny said.

"What how can you feel bad for that guy? He's a slime." Ron said shocked.

Danny answered Ron. "It's not like it's his fault he's an idiot. His breed of idiot comes from other people over feeding his ego. He has so little experience with the real world that he has no choice but to be stupid."

Hermione nodded and said, "Yeah, when you look at it like that it's kind of sad, but I still can't feel too bad for him."

Danny shrugged and said, "What goes around."

"On another note," Neville said, "We need to get going. Don't we have Divination next?"

"Of course." Hermione immediately jumped into action swiftly moving to the northern end of the castle. The Divination class was supposed to be at the top of the north tower.

"Hold up, Hermione!" Harry shouted after his friend as he rushed after her. Danny barely remembered to call Specter before he ran off after the others. At some point Hermione seemed to stop leading the group, but Harry, Danny, Ron, and Neville made their way to the northernmost part of the castle, but it was harder than they thought. They got lost multiple times, and eventually had to ask directions from one of the paintings.

Sir Catogan was his name and the knight lead their group to the north east side of the castle and up a massive staircase. Specter hated the clanking of the knights armor, but Sir Catogan was very taken with Specter saying that he was a "fierce familiar" and that Danny should be proud of such a companion. Not that Danny didn't like Specter but he was more concerned that their guide seemed more than a little crazy, but he shrugged it off. He'd gotten useful information from ghosts twice as crazy as Sir Catogan and for a painting who was to say that the knight wasn't completely sane.

The knight was true to his word and lead them all the way to the classroom landing and left after offering his services should they ever need him in the future. For a moment the group remained on the top steps of the tower huffing and puffing trying to regain their breath, but Danny, being a halfa, gained his breath first and quickly realised that there was no door. "Um, guys. Where's the classroom?" Danny said pointing out his dilemma to the rest of his friends.

Ron griped, "I knew we shouldn't have trusted that crazy knight. He wasn't all there, if you ask me."

Slowly more people began to arrive. Everyone looked confused that there seemed to be no door, but they had all arrived at the same location, so they stayed where they were. Finally Neville said, "Hey guys, I think I found the door." Everyone followed Neville's finger, which was pointed to a trap door on the ceiling.

"Are you sure that's the classroom?" Harry asked skeptically, but just a second after the door opened and a ladder lowered and landed directly in front of Harry's feet.

"Skeptics first." Danny waved Harry onward and quickly followed his brother.

Danny found himself in a heavily perfumed circular room. The walls were covered in shawls and curtains in warm colors blocking most of the outside light, and what did filter in was mostly red and orange. The rest of the light came from a fire place where there was a roaring fire. The room was swelteringly hot to the humans and Danny felt almost like he was suffocating in the heat. Around the room there were large cushioned chairs and poufs positioned around small circular tables. There was between two and three chairs to a table, so Harry, Ron, and Danny placed themselves around one table while Neville went to sit with someone else. The part of the room Danny found most particular was the witch hiding in a black shadow.

She was wearing thick circular glasses that severely magnified her eyes in her thin face. Bushy blond curls fell down the woman's back over her peasant blouse, which was barely visible under her many scarves. She also wore a long floor length skirt and so many bangled bracelets that Danny wondered if it was difficult for her stick arms to hold up. Her eyes glittered mischievously and Danny knew this woman liked to put on a show. Danny's own internal prankster responded to the woman's mischief in kind. He saw that the woman was going to appear out of the shadow directly behind Harry so he subtly moved behind Harry so he would be in front of the woman instead.

"Greetings class." The teacher emerged from the shadow. Most of the students seemed startled to see her there, and she seemed mildly surprised that she hadn't startled Danny too. "It's wonderful to see you in the physical world at last." Her voice was light and mysterious, and Danny had to stop himself from snorting.

The class finally settled in their seats and gave the professor their full attention. "I am Professor Trelawny. You may not have seen me before, but that usual. I prefer to stay up here away from the main hustle and bustle of the castle as it clouds my inner eye." She declared and the class was silent. They didn't know how to respond to the unique proclamation, and an air of slight unease settled on the class.

"In my class I will teach you the art of divination, though I suspect not all of you will have the sight required to do well in my class." The teacher's eyes briefly settled on Hermione as she said, "The sight is not something that can be learned from your books." Hermione looked mildly shocked that her books wouldn't help her, but she sat up straighter almost as if trying to prove that she would still excel at this class the same as every other. "I'll teach you how to see past the fog the veils the future, starting with the simplest methods and working on from there. First we will learn to read tea leaves, then palmistry, dream interpretation, and finally if this class shows promise I will introduce you to the crystal ball." How she kept her voice sounding so misty Danny didn't know, but she held the attention of the entire class.

The teacher continued by starting their first lesson in tea leaves. "Just grab a cup and then walk over to me and I'll pour you some tea." They followed her instructions and suddenly she turned to Lavender's friend Pavarti and asked, "Is your grandmother quite well, girl?"

Pavarti jumped out of her skin and stuttered, "I-I think so."

Trelawny hmmed and said, "I wouldn't be so sure." Then offhandedly she said to Lavender, "The thing you're dreading will happen in the first week of march." Then she turned to Neville, "You there."

"Y-yes." Neville gulped nervously at the teacher addressing him.

"Would you be so kind as to grab a blue cup next time? I'm rather attached to the pink ones." Neville nodded as the teacher poured his tea.

Everyone else was able to drink from their tea much sooner than Danny who couldn't handle the hot temperature while in the swelteringly hot room, so he used his cyrokinesis to cool down the drink slightly before he too drank his tea. They were instructed to place their cups upside down on their saucers to let the dregs drain, and then they traded their cups with the others at their table. After a minute they picked the cups back up and tried to interpret the brown mushy stuff. Ron gave it a try first. "Well Harry's got a wonky sort of cross, that's trials and suffering. But this here is the sun which is happiness. So you're going to suffer, but you're going to be happy about it." Harry snorted, "Alright you give it a go then."

Harry looked down and said, "All I see is a load of soggy brown stuff." the three boys tried to keep their laughter down low, but the teacher heard them anyway.

"What do you see in your cup Mr. Potter?" Trelawny said. Both Harry and Danny looked at her blankly until she elaborated, "Danny."

Danny looked down at Ron's cup and said, "Well you've got this, um, skull? There's a mask on top of that. The skull means danger in your path, and the mask is secrets. So there's a dangerous secret in your future."

Trelawny looked impressed and said, "Well done Danny. I sense that you have a natural talent to see into the beyond." Harry was snickering from behind the professor when she said, "Perhaps you could show your brother how to read the signs."

Harry's snickering stopped, but Danny decided to pull a little prank on his poor brother. "I don't think I could Professor, but maybe he would benefit from watching you read the cup." Danny noticed the class was paying close attention to his table and Harry's discomfort.

Danny smirked when the teacher rounded on Harry and said, "That's a wonderful idea." She took the cup from Harry and kneeled down so he could see and she said, "Well look here. There is a mask over the sun and the, oh dear, the grim. This means that Danny, or someone near him is keeping both happiness and death a secret." Danny and Harry shared a look. They both knew what Danny was keeping secret. "Then on the other side of the cup separate there is wonky cross over a mask, which means Danny or someone close to him will have difficulty keeping a secret." Trelawny's voice had been extra mysterious through the entire reading, but as she finished her voice went back to it's regular mistiness. She looked up at Danny and said, "My my, that is not a happy cup." Then she looked to Harry and said, "It's no wonder you had a hard time reading it, it's a complex cup."

The class was in awe of Trelawny's reading. Ron glanced over to see Danny's cup and realised the wonky cross looked nothing like the one in his mug. He frowned and told their teacher, "My wonky cross looks different."

Professor Trelawny frowned and said, "Let me see dear." Ron handed her the cup, and she no more than looked down then she gasped and said, "Oh my dear boy. You poor boy."

"What is it?" Someone called from a table behind Danny.

"My dear," She looked Harry in the eye and said, "you have the grim." Someone else in the class read out the grim was the omen meaning death, and the class became silent as the grave.

Hermione looked over the teacher's shoulder and said, "It doesn't look like a dog to me." Another student agreed and said it kind of looks like a donkey if you look at it from this angle.

Harry snapped, "If you're all done debating whether I'm going to die or not?" He left the sentence hanging, filling the classroom with an awkward discomfortable air.

"Well," Professor Trelawny said, "I think that's a good enough point to stop for today." She dismissed the class and slowly everyone broke from their trances and packed up their stuff. The next class for the Gryffindors was Transfiguration, so they all as a group headed to McGonagall's classroom in complete silence. The only break was from the students looking back at Harry with worried expressions.

Danny had been fighting a panic attack since Trelawny's prediction. He'd just found Harry. Harry couldn't die, not now, not so soon. Danny couldn't go through that pain again. He wasn't even done mourning his last family. Bloody images of Jack, Maddie, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker flashed through his mind, and they were followed by an image of Dan laughing while harry was tied to the Nasty Burger. It was a nightmare he'd had just a few nights ago, and he knew it couldn't happen, but Danny found himself fighting to keep his breathing even. Then two words popped into his head that calmed him, "I promise." He'd promised Jazz not to give up, and Danny would keep that promise. Once Danny was a little more calm he began to worry more about how Harry was handling the prediction than the prediction itself. Danny knew he would never let the prediction come to pass, but Harry didn't.

Harry looked pale and nervous. His eyes flickered from face to face as people shot looks back to him. The class was worried, and it was making Harry worried. They were just a hall away from Transfiguration when Danny quietly told Harry, "You don't need to worry. The prediction is wrong. I'd never let that happen."

Harry looked Danny in the eye and he saw nothing but determination and power. It solidified Danny's promise and Harry found himself relaxing. Of course Danny wouldn't let anything happen. His brother was a literal superhero. If Danny promised Harry would be fine, then Harry would be fine. "Thanks." Harry whispered. He was still a little uncomfortable, but at least now he wasn't worried about his eminent death.

Everyone sat in the class, and McGonagall began her lecture, something about animagus, only Harry and Danny heard any of it, because they were less worried. Then she transformed into a tabby cat and back human, but when only Danny, Harry, and Specter gave her any notice she said, "Really!" McGonagall exclaimed, "What has gotten into you!? You're the first class ever to not applaud my transformation."

The class looked around at each other uncomfortably, then their eyes flicked back at Harry before returning to the teacher. It was Hermione who answered the question. She stated in a slightly shaky voice, "Well you see we just came back from our first Divination class-"

"Ah, say no more Ms. Granger." Mcgonagall said and then asked, "So who's dying?" The class was shocked by the question, but eventually Harry answered.

"I am, Professor." He said and Danny sent another worried look to his brother who sent back a look that clearly said, 'I'm fine'.

McGonagall looked at Danny and then rested her eyes on Harry's before she said, "In all my years of teaching I have seen many classes from Divination. That," McGonagall seemed to struggle with the word, "woman, gives out a death omen the first class of every year. It's her favorite way of introducing a new class." She looked all around the room and said, "I've yet to see one of her predicted deaths come true," Then she looked back at Harry and said, "so I hope you'll forgive me for giving your homework. I assure you if you do die you need not turn it in." Harry laughed and the tension in the room noticeably lessened,and the rest of the class was pretty normal, but Danny could hear a few of the students were still skeptical.

_AN: Hey everyone. It's great to be back. I left because I had family visiting for my brothers graduation, and I took some extra time just to get away from this story a little bit. I was getting really tired of focusing on one thing, so I wrote other things while on hiatus. Just so you know I posted the beginning of a new Danny Phantom fan fiction today, so check that out too. _

_Enough advertising and more about this chapter. I seem to really love doing these nightmares for Danny. Don't know why, but they're fun to write, and I wanted him to wake up crying in the dormitories. In my head originally it was only Harry that found Danny having a nightmare, but then I remembered the Order of the Phoenix when Harry dreamed of Arthur Weasley, and I knew they all would be awake. I've also barely started to hint at the more important role I've planned for Specter to play. At this point Specter is just a cat who follows Danny around everywhere, but he won't always be. Potions class was interesting to write. I wanted Snape to show his hatred of the Potter boys somehow, but at the same time the Danny I've written wouldn't make a mistake. I've made Danny way smarter than that, and if Danny didn't make a mistake Snape couldn't call him out on it. I did get some good Draco/Danny interaction though, not that Draco/Danny will be a thing. _

_I think Danny would take Divination, because it would remind him of Clockwork, and because he would be curious how much of the future humans were allowed to view. Danny's also a good judge of character, so I like the idea that he gets a little bit of warning about Trelawny when he sees her expression upon entering the class. I didn't really have the interaction between the Divination teacher and Danny planned, but I like the idea of Danny pushing her buttons and them both getting on each others nerves._

_That's about it really. I just relaxed and wrote the chapter over the period of a few weeks, and now I'm back writing again. So as always R&amp;R and I'll update next week, probably with more development on Danny and Neville's friendship._


	8. Of Ghosts and Hypogriffs

**Chapter 8**

"Come on. I want to get to Hagrid's class early so we can talk to him." Harry persuaded his brother and friends to leave for Care of Magical Creatures early. Hermione and Ron were quick to agree. They too wanted to congratulate Hagrid on becoming a teacher, and Danny didn't argue, so they left quickly. The four of them walked across the lawn, past the lake and the field pitch, and stopped just at the edge of the forest by a little cottage style shack.

They walked around the side of the cottage and saw Hagrid working in his garden. He was growing a couple dozen pumpkins and they all looked about perfect carving size as they were, but they were still green. "Hello, Hagrid." Ron greeted the giant man.

Hagrid turned to them and exuberantly said, "Why hullo there, Ron, Hermione, and Harry. It's good ter see you three. You haven't introduced me ter your friend here though.""

"Danny Potter. Nice to meet you, Professor Hagrid." Danny greeted the man.

Hagrid blushed and said, "That does sound nice, dun' it, but why dun' you stick to Hagrid outside of the lessons." The golden trio smiled warmly at Hagrids embarrassment. They knew how much being greeted as a professor meant to him, and it was long over due that Hagrid got that recognition.

"That's right this is your first year teaching Care of Magical Creatures, isn't it?" Danny asked, "What were you doing before?"

"Well I was, and am, Gamekeeper here at Hogwarts, but it was all thanks to your brother and his friends here that I was able to become a teacher this year." Hagrid said proudly.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck and said, "I didn't do anything."

Hagrid chuckled, "In what world is finding a hidden chamber, killing a basilisk, saving a life, stoppin' You-know-who again, and clearing an innocent man's name nothing."

"But Hermione was the one to figure everything out, and Aragog cleared your name, and without the sorting hat and faux I would have never defeated that Basilisk." Harry objected.

Danny laughed hard. People called him modest, but it looked like his brother was just as bad. This was exactly like when Danny met Frostbite. "What's so funny?" Ron asked the question everyone was thinking.

"Dejavu." Danny answered and then he said, "You know Hagrid you greatly remind me of a friend of mine."

"Oh really who?" Hagrid asked.

"A generous king." Danny answered cryptically. Hermione and Ron looked a little startled by that answer, and Hagrid looked bashful. Harry knew his brothers secret, so though he was still surprised he was more curious.

"I'm no king. That's fer sure." Hagrid mumbled in an embarrassed fashion.

"Well just like him you are overly kind despite how intimidating you first may appear. I think I've had more than one conversation with Frostbite almost exactly like your's and Harry's just now." Danny said only making them all more curious, but he really didn't want to go into that right now, so he redirected their attention. "Hey I think everyone here now."

It was true. While the group talked with Hagrid the class had slowly filtered out from the castle and made their way to the gamekeeper's hut. Ron seemed startled that time had gone so quickly, but the distraction worked. Only Hermione looked at all suspicious about Danny's sentence as Hagrid turned to the rest of the class and began. (AN: I don't remember what Hagrid said, or the exact event of the book, so as always you have to deal with my improvisations. Also I forgot to mention anything about the Monster Book of Monsters until now, so let's just ignore that.)

Hagrid lead the class around the edge of the forbidden forest to a stable out of sight of the castle. There was no creatures in sight so far when Hagrid stopped them and had them open up their books. Of course Malfoy was the one to ask how they were supposed to open their books. Hagrid said, "All you've got to do is stroke the spines." Danny rolled his eyes at how cliche that answer was. It was almost as stupid as ghost's plans for world domination. Harry weakly threw up a defence for Hagrid's choice of book, but even he knew it was silly.

It was a little jarring, but Hagrid got the class moving again by fetching the creature he's been so mysterious about. Long before it came into view Danny could hear the clacking of hooves, like a horse, but what rounded the corner was no horse. "Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to, Buckbeak. Buckbeak here is a Hippogriff." Hagrid introduced with a big smile. The creature, now named Buckbeak, looked like a perfect mixture between a eagle and a horse. His body was shaped like a horse, but his front two legs were talons. His head was that of an eagle, and his large feathers smoothly grafted into gray horse hair. The gradient was only interrupted by a pair of great big wings that rested at his sides.

Hagrid told the class that Hippogriffs were exactly what they looked like, half horse, half eagle, and that they were very proud. The only way you could approach a Hippogriff was by showing it the proper respect by bowing. If the Hippogriff bowed back it had accepted you and you could go to it, but if it didn't bow back you were more likely to get trampled. Then Hagrid called out, "Okay who would like to go first." No one stepped forward, but when they looked at the massive gray creature before then all except Harry and Danny stepped back. Harry was unfortunately in front of everyone else, and when Hagrid looked back at the class he called out, "Ah, good man, Harry." Harry scowled at the class who'd stepped back, and at Danny who was laughing at Harry, before walking forward.

Harry stood bowed in front of Buckbeak for a good while until even Hagrid was nervous and told Harry to back away, but then Harry stepped on a twig with a loud crack and froze. "Don't move." Hagrid instructed the green eyed Potter and Harry didn't move an inch. Then miraculously the hippogriff bent a knee and lowered its head in a clear bow. The class, all except Malfoy and his followers, applauded Harry as Hagrid gave his congratulations. "Well done Harry." Hagrid said as Harry petted Buckbeak's feathered head, "You can go ahead and ride him now." With no more warning than that one sentence Hagrid lifted Harry up onto Buckbeak's back.

"Wait. Ride him? I thought you said I was going to pet him, Hagrid?" Harry protested rom Buckbeak's back.

"Yes, but this is better don't you think. Just mind not to pull out his feathers. He won't forgive you for that." Hagrid said grinning and then with a little nudge from the giant man Buckbeak was off. The hippogriff dashed across the ground and then with one heavy beat of his wings Buckbeak, with Harry on his back, took to the sky.

Danny watched as his brother bowed, and then when the hippogriff didn't immediately bow back a warning formed in the back of Danny's mind. Harry needed to back off. Danny no more than had the thought before Hagrid stated it out loud. Harry started to back up, but then he snapped a twig under his foot and Harry froze. Danny froze with his brother not daring to breath until the great beast bowed back. Danny smiled and applauded with the rest of the class, but then Hagrid said, "You can go ahead and ride him now." Danny paled at the thought of his brother basically going horseback riding through the air and carefully made his way to the edge of the group of students. Danny moved to the back of the group, and after making sure no one was watching he changed behind a tree and took off invisibly after his brother.

It was funny to watch Harry cling to the big bird horse as they went flying out towards the lake. Danny stopped being worried almost as soon as he spotted Harry and Buckbeak. Buckbeak was flying so smoothly up through the trees that it was clear that Harry wouldn't fall. Still Danny flew besides them as they went out over the lake. Harry finally relaxed as Buckbeak dived down and raked his talons across the surface of the water. Harry peered at his reflection in the lake and then let out a whoop of excitement as Buckbeak shot back up into the open air. A long high pitched whistle sounded from the forest and Buckbeak turned back, so Danny went ahead and changed back before Harry could land.

By the time Harry was on the ground Hagrid had brought out three more hippogriffs. There was a light beige one in the middle, a brown one on the right, and a black one on the left. Buckbeak lined up next to the black one and the rest of the students lined up to bow to the hippogriffs. Danny unfortunately ended up near to the back of the line because he was of flying with Buckbeak, so Harry, Ron, and Hermione all finished long before him. The three friends watched the rest of the students take their turns with various hippogriffs. Poor Neville was holding up the entire line behind the brown one because he couldn't get it to bow and had to keep backing off. The only line that went slower than Neville's was Danny's.

Danny was in the line waiting for the black hippogriff, and this particular hippogriff seemed to be even more arrogant than the rest. It did bow for everyone, but never on their first try. Each student was lucky to get the hippogriff to bow on their second attempt, but eventually the black hippogriff bowed, and finally Danny was able to take his turn. Danny moved forward and stopped about ten feet in front of the hippogriff. The hippogriff notice Danny and stared directly into Danny's eyes. Then just as Danny was about to bow the hippogriff did something that surprised everyone. It bowed first. Danny heard Hagrid say, "I've never seen one do anything like that before." Most of the student had stopped what they were doing to watch Danny and the black hippogriff.

Said hippogriff was still bowed to Danny, but then it took a half step back and Danny realised what it wanted, so he bowed back. Once Danny bowed the hippogriff let off a cheerful squawked and flapped his wings before prancing up to Danny and nuzzling his head. Danny chuckled and patted the hippogriffs head before asking Hagrid, "What's his name?"

"Erm, her name's Raven." Hagrid almost sounded like he was asking a question in his curiosity at the hippogriff's behavior.

Danny didn't know how to answer hagrid's unspoken question, because he himself didn't know why Raven had bowed to him. It could have been something as simple as the hippogriff could sense he was a powerful halfa, or it could have been something completely different. It was a mystery.

Just then Malfoy approached Buckbeak and distracted most of the class from Danny. He stalked up to Buckbeak and bowed, but then as he was petting Buckbeak he said, "That wasn't so difficult. You're just a great big ugly bird." The hippogriff let out an enraged squawk and beat his wings causing Malfoy to stumble back, but not fast enough. Luckily Danny happened to be just a few feet away, and as soon as he heard malfoy's error he was moving to the stupid blond.

In a split second Danny was in front of Malfoy, and he pushed the boy back before turning to the rearing bird-horse. Making a quick decision, before Buckbeak could trample Danny to get to Malfoy, Danny bowed to the creature. The action calmed Buckbeak who bowed almost immediately once he noticed Danny. Then Danny walked up and petted Buckbeak just as he had petted Raven, who walked up to Danny to get petted once more.

"Well done." Hagrid boomed leading the class in a round of applause. "That was quick thinking Danny." Then Hagrid took the opportunity to teach what Malfoy had done wrong. "Did you see what happened there? That is why it's important to show respect to a hippogriff. If you are respectful and kind to them they will be kind to you, and you'll never find a better friend. If you a rude however, that is a one way ticket to injury." Hagrid looked at Malfoy and said, "You're lucky Danny here pushed you out of the way when he did Mr. Malfoy. Maybe next class you'll listen to the instructions so you aren't hurt." Malfoy's face lit up red with embarrassment and anger and the class laughed at him being called out. "I think this is a good point to end today's lesson." Hagrid said, "Well done, everyone."

The class slowly filtered away except for the few who stayed behind to talk to Hagrid. Ron ran up first, "That was brilliant, Hagrid!" He gushed, "Did you see the look on Malfoy's face?"

"Doh." Hagrid waved off the compliment, but he was blushing and clearly pleased to receive it. "It was nothing. I was just giving him a warning for next time."

"Ron's right. That was brilliant." Hermione said, "I however am more interested in Danny's response." The bushy haired girl turned to Danny, who was tugging at the hair on the back of his neck.

"He heh, what about it?" Danny questioned nervously.

"It was quick thinking. If Malfoy had been injured he would have made it out to be neglect and his father would have made trouble for Hagrid and Buckbeak." Hermione concluded.

"I really wasn't thinking, Hermione." Danny said, "I just heard Malfoy insult Buckbeak, and I knew Buckbeak would attack, so I stopped it. That's all."

Harry coughed, which specifically sounded like the words "hero complex", and Ron said, "What'd you do that for? You should have let Buckbeak trample him in my opinion." Harry laughed at Ron, and Hermione glared before scolding Ron that it was wrong to wish someone would be trampled, even a pompous git like Malfoy. Danny was just grateful to have the conversation turned away from him.

Harry and Danny said goodbye to Hagrid and headed back up to the castle. Today's lessons were done, and Danny had plans. "Harry." Danny whispered to his brother, "I was thinking now is a good time to tell you more about my powers if you wanted to know."

Harry understood that Danny meant for them to ditch Ron and Hermione, but something felt wrong about that to him. "What about Ron and Hermione? You can completely trust them you know?"

Danny glanced at the aforementioned witch and wizard and shook his head. "I know you can, but I don't know them that well. I'm only willing to tell you because you're my brother."

The sentence upset Harry, even if it made sense. He trusted Danny, and it hurt to know that if they weren't brothers Danny wouldn't trust him enough to tell him his secret. "So what? If I wasn't your brother I wouldn't know?"

Danny ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, "I didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did you mean?" Harry asked shortly.

"Er, are you guys fighting or something?" Ron asked making Harry and Danny jump.

"No", "Maybe". The brothers spoke at the same time, making Ron chuckle nervously.

Hermione pulled on Ron's sleeve and said, "We'll just give you two some privacy then."

The Potters watched as Hermione pulled Ron the rest of the way to the castle and out of hearing range. Then Danny sighed and started walking to the great lake. Harry followed behind him. "I told you because you're my brother, my family, and I couldn't bare the thought of lying to you like that." Danny said after a while. Harry looked at Danny and saw his brother looked devastated, and all Harry wanted to do was get rid of that expression. "My parents a-were ghost hunters, and I was scared by some of the things they said they would do to ghosts. They thought all ghosts were evil, unemotional, unfeeling beings that were to be exterminated. They loved me, but I was so terrified of what they could do to me if they learned who I was, what I was."

Danny paused and Harry said, "I'm sorry."

Danny smiled out at the lake and sat down on its bank. "It's not your fault, but the thing is, I never told them who I was. I let my fear that they wouldn't accept me get between me and them, and now they're gone. We grew so far apart because of my lies, and now I'll never know if they would have accepted me, and I couldn't handle that with you."

"You don't have to. I know your secret Danny, and I like you with or without ghost powers." Harry said flopping down next to his brother.

Danny smiled at Harry and pulled him into a quick side hug. "I know, but that's why I told you the first day I met you." Danny laid back a against the grass and said, "I knew I wanted you to know who I am, all of who I am, but I was so scared that you would hate me. I knew I had to tell you as soon as I met you, because if I told you and you were terrified I told myself it would be easier to handle if I had only known you one day." Harry placed his hand on his brother's shoulder to try and cheer him up. "I don't know what I was thinking. " Danny continued, "Even having only known you for as long as I had, if you had turned away from me I can't even imagine that pain."  
"But I didn't. I'm here for you, and I always will be." It was a huge promise to make, but Harry knew it was true. "I couldn't imagine giving you up for something as simple as being half ghost. I can't imagine giving you up for any reason."

Danny smirked at the challenge. "Oh yeah. What if I was like one of Malfoy's lakey's?"

Harry snorted, "Good point. Wouldn't want another Dudley."

"What's a Dudley?" Danny asked confused.

Harry looked down to see his brother watching him and looked away nervously. He wasn't sure how, or if he wanted to tell Danny about the Dursleys. "Nothing important. Weren't you going to show me some of your powers?"

Danny saw through the pathetic attempt to change the subject easily, and said so. "That was more obvious than Ron."

"I don't want to talk about it." Harry said quietly.

Danny frowned mildly in a way the hid his true hurt. He was hurt that Harry was hiding something from him, especially while they were talking about how Danny didn't want to hide anything from Harry. "I understand." Danny didn't, but he knew his brother was allowed to keep secrets, and Danny would still love Harry despite that.

It was Danny's kind understanding tone that broke Harry's resolve. "It's not that I want to hide anything from you." Harry backtracked.

"Then what?" Danny asked calmly.

"I… it's just… I don't want to seem, I don't know." Harry trailed off uncomfortably and turned his attention to the grass beyond his tennis shoes.

Danny sat up and leaned forward to see his brother focused on ripping up individual blades of grass. "Don't want to seem what? Mean? Weak? Stupid? Arrogant?" Danny pushed for information. It was obvious that whatever it was bothered Harry.

"I don't know. I guess, I just haven't had a good childhood is all." Now that Harry had begun there was no stopping him. "Dudley is my, our, cousin, and he's always bullied me. When I was smaller I was the favorite punching bag of him and his gang. I still would be except the Dursleys are afraid of magic. They think I'm a freak, and they treat me like one, worse, like a dog that rolled in it's own dung." Harry had completely frozen lost in the retelling of his past. A blade of grass was partially spit in his hands. "Everyday I'd get woken up to make the breakfast, then I'd do all the chores, then my homework. At school I was avoided, because everyone had heard from Dudley and his crew that I was a freak, and they didn't want to be bullied by extension. The best parts of those days were when I was left alone in my bedroom cupboard."

"Cupboard?" Danny broke Harry's concentration with his simple question. His voice was calm, but Harry jumped slightly and looked at Danny, and Danny's eyes did nothing to conceal his anger. Harry almost felt afraid for the Dursleys.

"Y-yeah. I slept in a cupboard under the stairs until I started getting invitations to Hogwarts. The threat that wizards might find out I was being mistreated was enough for them to give me Dudley's second bedroom." Harry answered hesitantly.

Danny worked hard to keep his voice calm when he asked Harry what he meant by "bedroom cupboard", but by Harry's hesitance he could only imagine his face wasn't as calm as he was trying to portray. The first six words out Harry's mouth infuriated Danny the likes of which he could only imagine Dark Dan had even experienced, and Danny closed his eyes to block Harry from seeing the fury he felt. Then Harry continued that they only gave him a room because they feared wizards, and that they had a second bedroom available the entire time and just let their own son use it as his second bedroom. What would a child even do with a second bedroom? Harry's answer petered off, and Danny found himself holding his breath in an attempt to hold back his anger. Slowly Danny took a few deep breaths to bring his emotions back under control, but it was hard learning that his brother had been living life as basically a slave to the people who were supposed to be his family. "Danny?" Harry asked quietly.

Danny opened his eyes and Harry flinched at the anger within the glacial blue orbs, and Danny said in a completely steady voice, "You don't have to go back there."

"What?" Harry was confused by the statement. That was the last thing he expected.

"I don't want you to go back to those, Dursleys." Danny sounded like he very much wanted to call them something other than Dursleys.

"Where else would I go?" Harry laughed it off, "Look it's not that bad anymore, now they just do their best to ignore me. They begrudgingly feed me, and I stay out of the way-"

Danny cut Harry off. "I haven't said it yet, because I don't want to brag, and Ron's family is obviously poor, but the Manson's, which now consist of Jeremy, Ida, and me, are filthy rich. We have three spare bedrooms, and one spare bedroom suite." Danny looked at Harry and said, "I'll ask Jeremy tomorrow, but I don't want you to ever enter the Dursley's house again unless it's to sign custody papers."

To say Harry was stunned would be a massive understatement. Harry didn't know how to feel. The thought of never entering number four privet drive again sounded almost too good to be true, and yet he'd met Danny yesterday, and had never even met the family his brother lived with. What sold Harry was the fact that somehow he knew his brother would always have his best interests at heart. If Danny wanted Harry to move in, then it was probably a good idea for Harry to move in. Harry couldn't explain why he felt that way, but undeniably he did. Finally after a long pause Harry said, "I'd like that."

Danny smiled, "Good." Then he shot to his feet and said, "Wasn't I going to show off?"

Harry smiled and held out a hand. Danny pulled Harry to his feet and Harry said, "Yeah. What was that flying thing you did yesterday?"

With that sentence the topic was thoroughly changed, and Danny lead Harry up to the castle to "show off". The boys found an empty class room, without paintings, and shut the door to ensure their privacy. Danny told Specter to wait in the dormitories for them when Harry pointed out the cat was still following them. Specter eventually was convinced to leave, and Danny summoned the transformation. Harry watched in awe for the second time as Danny Phantom took the place of Danny Potter, and Danny just smirked at his brother's reaction. "I'll never get used to that." Harry said.

Danny laughed and replied, "You'd be surprised what a person can get use to." Unconsciously Danny let himself begin to hover in the air as he laughed.

Harry's eyes went so wide they were almost as round as his glasses. "You're flying!" He exclaimed, making Danny look down.

"Oh yeah." Danny said as he nonchalantly touched his feet back to the ground. "More hovering than anything, but it's natural for ghosts to fly rather than walk. Seeing as I'm a ghost I feel more comfortable in the air."

Harry snorted, "I'm more comfortable in the air, but I'm human."

Danny laughed and said, "Sucks for you. You need a broom to fly."

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed as he tried to punch his brother, but Danny just went intangible, then floated up out of reach, and stuck out his tongue. Harry laughed at his brother's childish behavior. "You don't act like some big shot superhero."

"I'm only thirteen." Danny rolled his eyes, and then without warning he dived and swept Harry up fireman style.

"Daaanny!" Harry screamed as he watched the roof pass through him and his brother and rapidly fall away.

Danny stopped their assent and said, "What? You wanted to fly." Danny pulled Harry to his side so he could see Harry's expression while they flew.

Harry didn't respond, but chose to gape instead. In a split second they went from the abandoned classroom to hundreds of feet over the castle roof. Harry had never flown so fast or so smooth, but he supposed that was what it was like to fly under your own power. "Wow." He whispered in awe.

Danny smirked at his brother's awed expression and replied, "If you like that you'll love this. Just hold on." Danny stretched his flight to include his brother, and smoothly accelerated towards the forest. With Harry pinned to his side Danny dove into the forest twisting and turning to get out of the way of trees. When that was getting too difficult because of how close the trees were, Danny stopped dodging and weaving and turned them intangible. Like a rocket Danny shot out towards the lake, and came out of the trees just a dozen feet above the water. He slowly lowered himself to the water's surface and watched Harry dip his fingers in the water. Droplets sprayed up and splashed their feet, but Danny knew he could turn them intangible again later to dry off. Then Danny said, "I want to show you something. Keep your hand out of the water."

Harry did as he was told and watched his brother reach a white glove to the surface of the water, and where the hand touched ice sprouted in swirls and beautiful patterns as his brother wished. Danny left his little iceberg in the lake and flew them back towards the castle. It was getting later, and the widows were lit with firelight as the sun was going down. Danny pulled them through a few twists and turns around the many spires of the castle and then he said, "It's getting late. We should get back before Ron and Hermione become too worried."

"I don't want to." Harry sighed, making Danny laugh.  
"Yeah I know the feeling." Danny replied as he slowly made them invisible and flew through the castle until he found another empty class room. Then he set their feet on the ground and changed back human. "So know you've seen the majority of my powers."

"There are more?" Harry asked surprised, "Was flight, invisibility, intangibility, and ice powers not enough?"

Danny chuckled, "It's not like I got my powers on purpose. They just showed up. Any way I also have ecto energy blasts and shields, duplication, and my ghostly wail, but it's late, and those are harder to show you."

"Well I'm happy to have experienced any of them." Harry said.  
"I'll show you all of them eventually, except for maybe the wail, that one is far too destructive, but it will only take a more private location for the others." Danny changed the topic, "We'd better head to the great hall. Dinner will be soon."

Danny turned out to be more right than he thought. Dinner had already begun by the time he and Harry arrived. "Looks like we made it just on time." Danny commented.

"Yeah, good thing too. I'm hungry." Harry stalked over to the Gryffindor table, leaving Danny to follow behind laughing.

They reached the table, and sat next to each other across from Ron and Hermione, the later of which said, "You two look to be in a better mood." Both Potters nodded and Hermione returned with her own curt nod as she said, "Good. I knew you two were bound to fight at some point, but I'm glad you got over it so quickly."

"It was stupid." "It was nothing." Danny and Harry said respectively before they returned to filling their plates.

Ron wrinkled his nose at the brotherly display and said, "It's really weird to see you do that. It was bad enough that Fred and George do it all the time. You don't need to as well."

"Bad enough that we do what?" Fred and George said together from behind their younger brother. They pretended not to enjoy making him jump and stared at him waiting for an answer.

Harry and Danny ignored the twins like they were ignoring Ron's jump and said together, "It's not like we do it on purpose." Then they looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

The Weasley twins dramatically sighed and George said in a voice filled with nostalgia, "Remember when we got annoyed about speaking together?"

"I do indeed, George. Those were dark days." Fred replied in the exact tone his brother was using. Then he turned to Harry and Danny and said, "Some free advice mates."

"Don't fight it." George said.

"It's just a natural occurrence in wizard twins." Fred explained.

"You're always going to speak together." George added.

Harry both tilted his head in wonder that the Weasley twins said something helpful and not joking. At the same moment Danny asked, "How'd you know it's a wizard twin thing?"

"Mum asked Dad to do some research when we were born." George started.

"Da's way too into muggles," Fred said.

"So of course he researched their knowledge of twins."

Fred took over again, "Even muggle twins are connected enough to almost be able to read each other's minds sometimes."

"Me and Fred have learned that being wizards just amplifies that connection." George said.

"Not that,"

"You'll ever be"

"Able to"

"Talk back and forth"

"Like we can."

"We're masters of twin speech." Fred and George finished at the same time.

Harry and Danny broke into grins that made them look almost identical. If you took away Harry's glasses and scar, and made Danny's eyes green they could almost pass for the same person. "You're really," Danny said.

"Annoying when," Harry continued.

"You do that," Danny added.

"You know?" Harry finished and the Weasley twins' jaws dropped.

Ron groaned, "No, not you too."

Danny laughed and Harry said, "Don't worry. We don't plan on doing that often."

Hermione asked, "How did you even do that? You've known each other for like a day."

Fred and George nodded. "Hermione's right." Fred said.

"She's always right." George amended.

"How?" The twins said together.

Harry and Danny shrugged, and Danny said, "You guys must have been right about the twin connection."

Harry thought about how he already trusted his brother with his life, and said to Danny, "That would actually explain some things."

"Yeah." Danny nodded back. Danny was thinking about how he knew he would always protect Harry from the second they met. Harry was family that couldn't be severed ever.

Then both boys smiled and continued eating their dinner. The Weasley twins gave each other knowing looks and said farewell before heading back to their own dinner, and Ron and Hermione just looked baffled by the whole spectacle. "What the bloody hell was that?" Ron finally gathered his thoughts enough to say.

Danny and Harry glanced at each other and decided that Harry would answer before Harry said, "That was a conversation about twins."

"You and the twins understood each other so well that I had trouble keeping up." Ron questioned, "You call that a conversation?"

Harry retorted, "Not our fault you had trouble keeping up." Danny smirked at his brother's joke while Ron glared.

Hermione added, "Ron is right. That was almost more like Fred and George were challenging you, and you beat their challenge. It was like you proved to them you were actual twins."

Danny laughed and said, "Okay if you want a more in depth explanation…" He took a breath and said, "It has been reported from all over the world that twins are sensitive to the emotions and thoughts of their sibling. Most just brush it off as the by product of raising two childred at exactly the same time in exactly the same way."

"How do you know so much about it?" Hermione asked out of pure curiousity.

Danny looked a little uncomfortable, but Harry could see the same pain and grief he saw every time Danny mentioned his old family. No one else caught Danny's full emotions though, and Danny answered, "One of my best friend was a goth-"  
"Goth?" Ron repeated.

"A type of muggle who rebels against society by finding interest in subjects normally thought of as odd or creepy." Hermione gave the textbook answer.

"Anyway," Danny hesitated, but forced his voice to remain the same as he said her name, "Sam was a goth, and she was into developing powers in humans for a while. Twins were one of the subjects she studied."

"What did she teach you?" Harry asked in a sympathetic voice. Ron and Hermione looked at Harry questioningly for the tone, but he missed them.

Danny shrugged, "She found two or three news articles about twins being able to read each other's minds. Specialists said it was likely just that the twins were reading each other's body language so well it mimicked mind reading, but every pair of twins I've ever met or heard about has this unexplainable connection. It's like you can just sort of sense what type of person the other is."

Hermione laughed, "Do you realize how much that sounds like science fiction?"

"You're a witch." Harry deadpanned.

Hermione blinked and said, "Good point."

Danny shrugged again and said, "I don't know if it's true, but I've seen too much to discredit anything."

"Well magic is kind of unbelievable, but that doesn't seem like enough for me to stop discrediting things like telepathy." Hermione said.

"Yeah well I've been through a whole hell of a lot more than just learning I was a wizard, so forgive me if I find the idea of telepathy perfectly reasonable." Danny said back to the know-it-all girl.

"What more have you been through than learning about being a wizard?" Ron asked.

"I told you my town was haunted." Danny said.

Ron scoffed, "Ghosts aren't that big a deal, mate."

"Yes they are, but you wouldn't know, because you've only met spirits." Danny said.

Harry added, "Danny was explaining to me earlier there are multiple types of ghosts. The ones here are the weakest type of ghost, and basically powerless."

"How powerful can they possibly be. They're dead." Ron said senselessly.

Harry saw a murderous look enter his brother's eye and placed a hand on Danny's arm to stop him from saying something he might regret. Danny rolled his eye and smiled reassuringly at Harry and said, "The most powerful ghost I've ever heard of is so powerful it's more accurate to call him a god, though he hates being called a god."

Ron and Hermione looked skeptical, but the conversation was interrupted by Neville, who started a conversation about how cool Danny was in Care of Magical Creatures. That conversation followed the group all the way to the Gryffindor tower. Once inside Gryffindor Tower Danny was pounced on by the massive gray form of Specter. Hermione seemed very interested in how Specter got into the dormitories when Danny told her he forgot he asked Specter to wait up here for him. No one else thought there was anything odd about it and said someone must have let the cat in. That answer didn't seem to satisfy the bookworm, but she couldn't argue against it either so the subject was dropped.

Ron started up some games of wizard chess against Danny, relishing someone who didn't know ahead of time that Ron was the best chess player in the house. Danny lost, and badly. Harry made a sarcastic comment about the wit of a superhero that no one but the twins fully understood. Danny defended himself saying chess was for evil masterminds, and Ron ended the conversation saying he could live with that. Ron kept them up for a long time, but eventually Hermione, Harry, and Neville were able to convince Ron to sleep.

Danny got ready for bed as slow as possible, to hide his scars and to wait for the others to fall asleep. Harry was in bed first, and Ron and Neville quickly followed. All but Harry were asleep as soon as their head hit the pillows, and then meant Harry and Danny were the last ones up. The timing was perfect. It was almost midnight. Harry got back out of bed and put back on his clothes, and Danny made them invisible and intangible, making them fall into the empty common room. Danny used the empty room to transform, and then, invisibly, they were off to meet Sir Nicholas in the Entrance Hall.

_AN: So what do you think of the chapter… Just kidding._

Danny returned to visibility and leaned against the side of the Entrance hall with Harry. He kept Harry invisible for now. There was no point in letting Harry be seen up out of bed after hours. Danny was sure the ghosts would allow it for a night, but any teacher passing through would not hesitate to send Harry back upstairs with a detention, and unlike at Casper High detention didn't mean you just stayed behind after school for an extra half hour.

A few minutes after the clock struck twelve Sir Nicholas floated through the floor. He spotted Danny quickly, after all it was hard to miss a glowing child with snow white hair, and he said, "Ah, Lord Phantom it is good to see you here."

Danny shook Sir Nicholas's hand and said, "I arranged the meeting, so it would be extremely rude of me not to come."

"Indeed, though I'm sure you would have had a good reason, but I was supposed to show you to the meeting place. If you would follow me, I'll lead you there." Nick said.

"Actually," Danny rubbed the back of his neck and said, "I wanted to ask you about something first."

"Oh." The Gryffindor ghost looked surprised, "Go on."

"I told Harry who and what I was last night." Danny started.

"Good for you!" Nick cheered before realizing he'd interrupted Danny and tacking on, "my lord", to the end of the sentence.

Danny chuckled, "There is no need to continually call me lord. It's just Phantom, or Potter in human form."

Nick seemed to relax slightly as he said, "Of course there is need to call you a lord. You've earned a higher title than that, but that is the best we ghosts can officially give you."

Danny smiled at the ghost's stubbornness and continued with his earlier questioning. "If you insist, then I'll let it be. However I am more curious about a different matter. I told Harry who I am, but in the course of a day I've not been able to really give him a very full picture of who I am. We're still learning about each other, and I was hoping Harry could attend the meeting."

Sir Nick frowned and said, "It's very unusual for a student to be allowed out past curfew, and certainly a ghost has never kept a student out of bed."

"I know it's unusual, but that is why I am asking you Nicholas. I won't let it happen often, but I want my brother to be there. I think it's a good opportunity for him to learn more about who I've been to the ghostly community without me having to tell stories." Danny explained.

"What do you have against telling your stories?" Sir Nick asked curiously.

Danny shrugged and said, "I don't feel comfortable with it. It feels like bragging, and brings up odd feelings that are hard to put into words."

Sir Nicholas sighed, but smiled at the halfa hero and said, "Well I suppose it won't be a problem for tonight. I'll wait if you would like to go fetch him then."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and took his hand off his brother to return Harry to visibility. Danny defended, "I would have flown him back if you said no."

Nick just laughed and said, "Your cleverness lives up to the legend Lord Phantom, but next time maybe leave him behind until you are certain he can come." Danny nodded sheepishly and Harry grinned, and Nick waved the Potters forward. "You'll have to carry Harry in, Lord. The door is locked after hours."

Nicholas floated into the great hall and sunk down through the tables and the stone floor. Danny picked up Harry and followed in the same path, and he found himself in a massive kitchen. There were identical matches for the four house tables, and then farther in there were hundreds of stoves, ovens, and other preparation areas. What stood out most of all was the hundred or more ghosts that floated about the room.

Danny recognized Peeves the poltergeist, The Bloody Baron ghost of Slytherin, Fat Friar of Hufflepuff, and the Gray Lady of Ravenclaw, but everyone else was a new face, or a face he'd only seen as he walked between classes. The ghosts were floating about the room talking excitedly, but that stopped once Danny entered the room. Once he was there all attention turned to him, and for the first time ever he was glad for his experience with dealing with parazi, because otherwise he'd have been a complete nervous wreck at the crowd. "Um, hello, everyone. It was kind of you all to meet me here."

The Baron floated forward, "Of course, Lord Phantom. It is a pleasure."

"I came here tonight to answer your questions, as I'm sure you have many, and I came here to ask you all a favor, which I'm pretty sure you can guess." Danny hardly finished before Peeves took up the challenge.

"Oh, oh, I know! You want us all to create a song to your honor and glory and teach the suites of armor to sing it!" Peeves exclaimed while happily cackling.

Danny looked oddly at the poltergeist and simply said, "No." Then to the entire room he said, "I know rumor of me, and my deeds have traveled far, especially amongst ghosts, so you probably already know this. I work hard to maintain a secret identity. Some or all of you have experienced the fear humans can feel for ghosts, and I'm not exempt from that. That fear has caused muggles to hunt me incessantly for over a year. I don't want my secret of what I am to get out to the wizard community, because even though wizards are more accepting of ghosts than muggles are, they could still react badly to the knowledge of the existence of a halfa." Danny paused in his speech and asked, "You all know who I am and what I am, so if you chose you could expose me to the world, but I'm asking you to do me the favor of keeping my secret as well as you keep your own." Around the room there were many signs of confirmation including nods and verbal statements. Once Danny was satisfied he said, "Thank you. Now I know you have questions, so I'm going to tell how I got from Amity Park to here, and I'll let you ask questions after, good." Once again there were nods, so Danny began.

He told them about the accident that killed his family. He told them about saving Jeremy's life as Fenton, and Jeremy sneaking him past Vlad Plasmius. Danny told them about learning he had a brother, and he was a wizard. He talked about his adoption, leaving for London, and catching up in school using duplicates. Finally he told them that he met his brother on the train during the dementor attack, and for the entire tale everyone was silent and completely wrapped in the story. Even Harry hadn't heard the entire story from beginning to finish, and Danny had already told him bits and pieces to answer questions Harry asked.

The first question came from a ghost the was bound by ethereal chains. "You left Amity just like that, unprotected?"

Danny's eyes flashed with the realization that he'd left out one key factor. "No. I forgot that part. The first night I went home I realized I was on a clock. I only had so long until the GIW came barging in, and they've already tried to destroy the ghost zone once with the Fenton Portal, so I had to do something before they got their hands on the lab. I went that night and took all of my parents blueprints and inventions. I scanned the blueprints and then burned them. I packed away all the inventions. Most importantly I melted the portal to the ground."

"It's gone!" A ghost gasped from the crowd.

Danny nodded. "I had little choice. I knew I couldn't protect it anymore, and it was about to be used to hurt the ghost zone, and the human zone following. I still have their blueprints for the portal, so I'm going to look into what it would take to make another one, but that could take a while."

The room was quiet as the Grey Lady spoke. It was rare to see her participate like this. "Do you have plans for all of that ghost hunting equipment?"

Danny tilted his head and slowly said, "Not exactly. I need to keep in contact with my allies and friends in the ghost zone, so I want to reopen a portal, but I don't know the how, where, or when. I was thinking of looking further into what it would take to build a new portal during christmas break. I still have all the blueprints. As for the rest of the stuff, besides never selling any of it to the GIW or other similar parties, I want to study the designs and technology, but I don't know how much I want to delve into building ghost weapons."

Moaning Myrtle stepped forward, no longer able to hold back. Playing nervously with her robes, she asked, "How did you defeat Pariah Dark?" There were many variations of the story, and Myrtle wanted to know the true tale. She wasn't alone in that desire.

Danny smiled at the young girl in front of him and asked, "What is your name?"

"I-I'm Moaning Myrtle." Myrtle said with tears in her eyes.

Danny said, "Well Myrtle, fighting Pariah Dark was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I don't know what you know of what happened with the battle with the king, but I almost died fully." There were gasps around the room, and everyone focused, if possible, harder on the young halfa. "The Fentons had been building a suit that worked off of ecto power and made your natural abilities 100 times stronger. It might sound like fiction, but it worked. Even though they were muggles they used technology to make their vision a reality, but there was an error and a cost. To make you 100 times more powerful the suit used the wearer like an energy source. It drained the user until they were dead. Luckily my parents both survived testing, but Pariah attacked before they could perfect the suit." Danny paused for dramatic effect and held back his smirk as the ghosts, and Harry, unconsciously leaned toward him. "Pariah tore into the town, and his army flooded the streets. The ghost hunters of the town battle constantly just to hold the forces at bay outside the ghost shields, and above Pariah shouted for his ring to be returned."

Someone asked, "Do you know who took the ring?"

Danny nodded. "It turned out Vlad Plasmius had stolen the Ring of Rage from Pariah's Keep, and then he planted the ring on a ghost hunter in Amity. Naively I tried to defeat Pariah like I'd defeated every other ghost, but with one hit he swatted me away like I was a fly buzzing around his head. I knew instantly I couldn't beat him alone, but I remembered the suit my parents built. I stole the suit from Fenton Works, and I put it on. As promised my power was 100 times the strength I had, but I also noticed the power gage on the suit immediately started to fall. I fought quickly pushing back Pariah. He'd transported my town to the ghost zone, so I was able to push him back all the way to his palace. Then I managed to knock the crown off his head, and I took it up and put it on myself. With the crown, the ring which I'd earlier retrieved from the ghost hunter, and the suit I was able to put Pariah back in his coffin of forever sleep. I started to shut the door and Pariah held out his arms and pushed against me. I was slowly winning against him, and I was able to close the lid, but I didn't have the key to seal it, and the power meter on the suit was in the single digits and falling. Then out of no where Plasmius appeared next to me and locked the coffin. Plasmius took the crown, and the suit showed 2%, and I blacked out." Danny looked around the room again as he finished his story, "Plasmius stole the crown and the suit, and I woke up and returned home through the Fenton Portal. That battle won me the respect of both the human and the ghostly worlds."

There was silence following Danny's tale as the halfa's words sunk in. Danny Phantom had battled Pariah Dark in single combat, in Pariah's keep, wearing the crown and the ring, and he had defeated the king. Now the crown was missing, last seen with the evil halfa Plasmius, and the Ring… "What happened to the ring?" A ghost holding his head in his arms asked.

Danny's hand twitched to rub the back of his neck, but he held it back to not show his nerves at the question. The truth was that Clockwork and the Observants had left it in his care, and he had left it frozen in a block of ecto ice hidden in the Far Frozen. Danny and the people of the Far Frozen were the only ones who knew where the ring was, well them and Clockwork, but even the Observants didn't know. "I don't know what exactly happened to it once I blacked out." Danny only half lied. It was true that he didn't know what happened to it immediately after he blacked out, but later the Clockwork had told him the observants had him freeze time and grab it before Plasmius could. It was one of the most blatant uses of power the observants had asked for in a long time, but no one was complaining that Plasmius couldn't get his hands on that power.

"Isn't it dangerous to leave the Ring lost, especially now that Plasmius is in possession of the crown?" The Baron asked concerned.

Danny shrugged, "There is no scenario in which it is safe for the ring to exist. If we knew where the ring was then anyone could try to take it. Without the risk of waking Pariah up all anyone would need to do is take out Vlad, but if no one can find the ring anyway it's pointless to try and overpower Vlad. It means that for now the crown is safe, because no one wants to make an enemy of the fruitloop, and no one has any idea where in the infinite realms the ring may be."

"Infinite realms?" Harry blurted without thinking.

Danny acknowledged Harry's question and answered, "It's another name for the Ghost Zone which stretches on through all space and time infinitely."

Peeves yawned theatrically and cackled, "Boring! Go back to story time."

Danny's eyes flashed in irritation, but he smiled. "Maybe this will entertain you." Faster than a bullet Danny's eyes changed to their normal ice blue, and a flash of blue light struck out and hit the unfortunate poltergeist. Faster than Peeves could say Phantom he was stuck to the ceiling with ice.

"Hey!" Peeves yelled as loud as he could in shock and indignation only to find the ice creeping up and over his mouth.

"You wanted entertainment. I thought you might enjoy trying to get out of that." Danny said innocently.

Peeves yelled a couple muffled curses through his cold gag, but most of the ghosts just giggled at his predicament, and Nicholas said, "Ah. Finally he is quiet. I thought I'd never see the day." More of giggles erupted from the crowd, and many of the giggles turned to laughs. Peeve struggled more against his binds and began to yell louder. No one could hear his words, but he seemed insistent on not being ignored. His efforts were futile as Danny just made the ice thicker.

The ghosts seemed to become more comfortable with Danny after that. One of the ghosts brought out a rotting pie, and the ghost floated around and mingled for a while. After watching an amusing game of head soccer, which Sir Nicholas seemed upset about for some reason, Harry yawned and Danny immediately followed the example of his brother. "Oh, I nearly forgot you still needed sleep Lord Phantom." the Bloody Baron commented.

Sir Nicholas added, "I'm sorry for keeping you two up so late on a school night."

Danny waved the ghost's concerns off and said, "It's no problem. I'm used to late nights."

"I'm glad I came. It was well worth being a little tired tomorrow." Harry said.

Danny nodded, "It was a pleasure to meet you all, however I think it is time for us to be going to bed."

Sir Nicholas nodded while the Bloody Baron bowed and said, "The pleasure was ours, Phantom. Thank you for give your time to us this night."

Danny blushed a light green in his ghost form and said, "There's no need to bow to me. I'm just a kid."

The ghosts hovering around the room laughed at Danny's modesty, but before anyone could comment there was a quiet muffled yelling noise from above everyone's heads. The ghostly host looked to the ceiling at a squirming Peeves. "Don't worry." Danny said, "I haven't forgotten you." Danny flew up to the ceiling to hover by Peeves and said to the trapped ghost, "My thermos is muggle technology. I'd hoped that because of it's nature to effect ghosts it would be unaffected by the magic of hogwarts. Unfortunately it was effected just like every other muggle technology, however that doesn't mean I'm helpless." Danny hovered parallel to the ground to look Peeves in the eyes. Peeved was glaring as hard as he could, but Danny was unphased. After Dark Dan Phantom no one else could really intimidate him, especially not a little spirit like Peeves. Danny locked his green eyes with Peeves faintly red ones and said, "I don't intend to stop any of your pranks. As long as they aren't harmful to the humans, you can do what you want, but I do have one rule. If you do anything that could potentially give away my secret, I will not hesitate to tie you ectoplasmic to the closest wall until I can drag you far enough away from the castle to trap you in the thermos. Not even the wards that tie you to the castle will save you." Danny's voice rang with sincerity and over the course of his mild threat Peeves had stopped glaring and begun to look slightly scared. "Do you understand?" Danny asked, releasing Peeves from his gag so he could speak.

"Yes, Phantom." Peeves gulped wide eyed.

"Good." Danny said. Then dispersed the rest of the ice, leaving Peeves in a large cloud of cool water vapor. Danny then turned back to the rest of the ghost and his brother beneath him and said, "It's been nice, but we've got to go." Danny swooped down and picked up Harry, and they left through the ceiling to a chorus of goodbyes from the ghosts of Hogwarts. As soon as they were out of the room Danny turned himself and Harry invisible, and flew them to the common room. There was no one there, so Danny set Harry down, allowing him to become visible again, and changed back to human with a flash of light.

Harry yawned and said, "I've got a million questions, but they can wait for morning."

"Yeah." Danny yawned back, and the brothers trudged up the stairs together.

Harry quickly changed back into his pajamas, now that he was actually going to bed, and turned to say goodnight to Danny, but Danny was already asleep. He was fully dressed on top of his covers with his curtains still open, and he was snoring. Harry chuckled sleepily and pulled Danny's curtains closed. Then he set his glasses on his nightstand, closed his own curtains, and fell into a deep sleep.


	9. Skeletons In The Closet

**Chapter 9**

In the rush of his first day of classes and the ghostly get together afterwards Danny hadn't managed to write Jeremy about Harry's situation with the Dursleys. The second day was a different matter. Danny worked faster on homework than anyone but Hermione, having learned how to speed through school work over the summer. That meant Danny was able to spend time writing Jeremy when Harry and Ron were doing homework.

Danny set himself next to his brother. Ron was on the other side of Harry, and Hermione was across from them. That gave Danny a fair bit of privacy to start his letter. He decided to start with a letter to both Jeremy and Ida telling them about his experience at Hogwarts so far.

Danny wrote about how he and Harry met, the dementors and Neville dragging him included. He wrote how he and Harry were different and the same. He also wrote about hogwarts. The Gryffindor common room was really cozy, and the ghosts all looked up to him as a hero. He wrote a little about his classes and his teachers, and how clingy Specter was, and then he got into the heavy stuff. He talked about his nightmares, how much he missed his family sometimes, and then he talked about Harry's abuse. Danny decided Jeremy would be more willing to take Harry in if he knew what had been going on, so he didn't hold back much. Danny talked about how his twin was practically a slave, and that he was glad they were mostly ignoring Harry, until they started starving him. That was pretty much all Danny knew on the subject, but he made sure to share the majority of it in the letter. He talked about how angry Harry's abuse made him and he begged Jeremy to consider giving Harry the fourth bedroom suit. Then Danny sent his love and his gratitude and borrowed Hedwig to send the letter.

…**.**

Wednesday morning Harry and Danny found Hermione already up and talking to Ginny when they got to the Great Hall, and the girls were happy to have the Potter twins join them. "Uhg, just look at the size of those clouds." Ginny complained with her narrowed brown eyes on the ceiling. The enchanted ceiling was reflecting the dark grey storm clouds outside, and it was obvious it was going to rain, and heavily. The only question was how many days the storm would last.

Hermione's own dark brown eyes lifted to the ominous ceiling and she said, "That looks like it could last for days. It'll probably hold up mail for a while at least."

A small, "Oh!", made it's way from Harry's lips before he said, "You don't think that's why Hedwig's taking so long, do you?"

Hermione looked surprised but answered, "It could be, if the storm is coming from the right direction. I hope she's not stuck out there though."

"I didn't know you'd sent anyone mail, Harry." Ginny mentioned. "Who did you write?"

"Actually I borrowed Hedwig." Danny input. "I wanted to ask my guardian, Jeremy, about something. Plus I promised him and Nana Ida I'd keep in touch."

"Nana Ida?" Hermione couldn't help but ask.

Harry answered, knowing the answer just as well as Danny by this point. "Jeremy's step mom, kind of Danny's step grandmother. She's always insisted Danny call her Nana Ida, and she'll probably make me do the same. At least according to Danny." Danny nodded to validate Harry.

"You sound like you know Danny's life story almost as well as Danny here mate." Ron walked up and sat on the other side of Harry.

Danny snorted and answered Ron while Harry just jumped at the sudden voice next to him. "He does." Danny said.

Harry interjected, "What do you think we do when we go off on our own?"

"Apparently talk about Danny's life." Ron snorted.

Danny said defensively, "We talk about other things too."

"Really what?" Ron challenged.

Danny glared at Ron, but just as he was about to answer Hermione interrupted, "Oh look! The mail is here."

Danny's expression brightened as he looked up and saw Hedwig swooping amongst the other owls. Harry followed his brother's eyes and equally brightened at the sight of his familiar. "Hedwig!" Harry cried cheerfully, as the brilliant white owl landed in front of Harry. She lightly nuzzled his hand and then hopped over to Danny and stuck out her leg.

"Thank you, Hedwig." Danny smiled at the bird as he deftly pulled the envelope from her talons. Hedwig chirped her acknowledgment and then hopped back over to Harry while Danny tore open his letter. The surrounding occupants of the table watched as Danny's eyes flew over the parchment in front of him. His eyes moved so fast no one but Hermione could be sure that he was really reading, but then a grin slowly spread over his face, and a second later Danny wore a grin so wide it took over every feature of his face.

Harry lost his patience and said, "So, what did he say?" As Harry fidgeted nervously, and Danny grinned ear to ear, the surrounding table wondered what Danny asked his guardian about.

"He said yes." Danny smiled, and Harry cheered. "Of course there's still all the legalities to take care of," Danny looked a little guilty to bear bad news, and Harry frowned, having not thought about the legal custody issues that might arise, "but", Danny continued, "that doesn't matter."  
Harry's earlier cheer was a bit dampened under the idea of legal issues, and his voice reflected that as he asked, "What do you mean? What if there are problems that Jeremy doesn't plan for?"

"Doesn't matter." Danny said confidently, "Because no one can stop me from taking you anyway. I'm me!" Danny stuck his hands on his hips in a cliche superhero pose, and succeeded in making Harry laugh.

"You're right." Harry smiled then Harry hugged his brother and said, "Thank you, Danny."

Danny hugged Harry back, but then shoved him, "Stop being so mushy. You'd have done the same."

Harry looked horrified, "And subject you to Dudley? I like you better than that." Danny snorted at the joke.

Ginny's patience broke first, "What are you two going back and forth about?"

Danny and Harry looked at Ginny and their friends, and then to each other. Then at the same time they said, "You tell them."

Ginny growled and Harry stepped forward. "Fine. Well…" Harry paused for a second and then said, "You know how I said me and Danny have been talking to each other about our lives?" Everyone nodded, though Ginny didn't, she just waited for Harry to continue. "Well, the subject of the Dursleys' came up." Danny growled at the mention of their name, and the people around the table looked to Danny shocked at how menacing he sounded. Harry didn't pause at the sound though, and continued faster. "Danny hated that I've been living like that for so long, and asked his guardian if I could live with them, and Jeremy said yes." Harry spoke so fast some of people didn't catch his words, but Hermione did.

"Wait, so you're going to be living with Danny and his guardian?" Hermione's summation made everyone aware of what Harry had said, and they could only stare in amazement as Harry nodded. "Harry that's wonderful!" Hermione clasped her hands together.

"Congratulations, mate." Ron smiled. Neville and Ginny added their own congratulations, and Harry grinned. He knew nothing could ruin the day after that.

…**.**

Why did Malfoy like to go out of his way to make Harry miserable? Danny and Harry had all the same classes, but Specter had run off, making Danny chase him into the rain, and Harry decided to continue to the library to let their friends know where Danny went. Unlike his brother Harry couldn't turn intangible to dry off. Malfoy spotted Harry alone and decided that was the time to take action. "Well, well, well. Looky what we have here. A singular Potter. I wasn't sure such a thing existed anymore." Malfoy said loudly to Crabbe and Goyle as he walked up to Harry.

Harry glared at the pale snob and said, "What do you want Malfoy?"

Malfoy raised an eyebrow, "Ooh, some's in a fowl mood, though I can't blame you with Black on the loose."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry growled. He wondered if Malfoy knew Black was coming after Harry personally.

Malfoy elaborated, "I'm just saying that if I was you I'd want to hunt the man down myself, but maybe Dumbledore's favorite pet isn't brave enough to go after a notorious murder like Black. I have to admit I didn't think you were that smart Potter."

Harry was now more confused than ever. Malfoy's words echoed those of Mr. Weasley, but Harry didn't know why he would go looking for Black. He echoed his thought out loud, "Why would I go looking for Black?"

Malfoy's jaw dropped as he gasped, "You don't know?" He laughed, "I guess Dumbledore doesn't trust you as much as I thought he did."

"Don't know what?" Harry was angry now. What did Malfoy and Mr. Weasley know that he didn't? Did everyone but Harry know?  
"Figure it out for yourself." Malfoy laughed, "Come on boys." Malfoy walked away around a corner, but before Harry could chase the slytherins Danny walked up behind him.

"Hey, Harry. Was that Malfoy?" Danny asked.

Harry jumped, startled, and then growled with frustration when he saw who it was. "Yes." Harry grumbled as he began to walk towards the library.

Danny ignored the still squirming cat in his arms, and speed up to walk next to Harry. "Geez it's like I left and your good mood disappeared. I know I'm awesome and all, but just because I leave doesn't mean your good mood has to go with me."

Harry growled as he continued to stomp up the hall. "I hate Malfoy and his stupid all-knowing attitude." As Harry and Danny passed people in the halls, they gave the brothers plenty of room. Harry simply radiated angry, and they wanted no part of it.

Danny had no such qualms. "So I'm getting the feeling that Malfoy hinted that he knew something you don't…" Danny faded off hoping Harry would fill in the blanks, but Harry just continued to stalk towards the library. "Oh come on!" Danny groaned, "The suspense is killing me. The rest of the way, at least."

Harry sighed and his shoulders slumped as he relaxed a little bit. "I need to tell Ron and Hermione too, and I might as well tell you all at the same time. We're almost to the library anyway."

With that Danny let Harry brood in peace, because after all Harry was right. They were almost to the library. The twins turned another corner, and the library entrance was just at the end of the hall. The quickly made their way to the table where Hermione and Ron were already waiting, and Hermione greeted them, "Harry, Danny, you're here."

Ron added bluntly, "What took you so long?"

Danny shrugged and said, "Spector saw something out the window and went racing off after it, and Harry was going to tell me why he was late when we got here." Danny turned pointedly to Harry and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Not here. Let's find a more private seat." Harry said before he started weaving deeper into the depths of the library. The library was an amazing place. The ceilings were nearly fifteen feet high, and the bookshelves went from floor to ceiling everywhere. Rows upon rows of bookshelves created a maze of passageways, and breaks in those passages were little sitting areas with group study tables. Along many of the bookshelves there were ladders for the younger students who couldn't levitate the books they wanted down, but for the most part books could be seen levitating through the air. It wasn't hard to find a secluded spot in such a place, but Harry went deep into the library just in case. Just as Danny and the other's were about to protest at continuing, Harry stopped. He stopped so suddenly that Ron nearly knocked right into him, but Harry took no notice of that as he turned to his friends and said, "Malfoy knows something about Black."

"Black?" Hermione said, her attention now fully on Harry, and she wasn't alone. Danny and Ron were also very interested to hear what they could about the notorious murderer.

Harry nodded and repeated his conversation with Malfoy. The blond's words left an uneasy feeling in everyone, but Ron tried to brush it off. "Eh, he was probably just trying to get a rise out of you. I doubt that Malfoy knows anything."

Hermione huffed, "Ron, his father is very connected."

"And Lucius Malfoy is certainly dark enough to be in communication with a man like Black." Harry added remembering his brief visit to Knockturn alley.

Danny said, "That's still not a lot to go on. Sure the Malfoys are connected, but would they really be in contact with a man that's being hunted. They have an image to maintain."

Harry replied, "But Malfoy isn't the first person to ask me about going off to hunt Black remember?" Harry reminded them, "Ron's dad warned me not to go looking for Black, no matter what I might hear."

For a while everything was silent as the group digested the information and weighed it in their own minds. Each was suspicious, but there just wasn't enough information to draw any conclusions. "I just don't know." Hermione said, "We don't know enough to guess at what the warnings might mean."

Danny nodded and added, "One things for sure. Somehow Black is related to Harry, and nothing good can come from that." The group shared worried looks, but seeing as there was nothing more to do or discuss they left the conversation there.

Danny, being the only member of the group that remembered the way out, lead the group back to their original table. There they began to work on their homework as usual, but even through their regular joking they could all feel a sense of dread that hung over them all.

…

Danny was briefly reminded of the conversation about Harry and Black the day before, when he spotted Malfoy walking up ahead of them. Even the thought of a mass murder who was out to get his brother couldn't distract Danny right now. Danny was currently walking between Ron and Harry, on their way to their first Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Ginny had vouched for Professor Lupin, the newest professor to take over the cursed class, and Danny and his friends found themselves curious as to what this professor was like.

That's why, even though they shared this period with the Slytherins, everyone aimed to arrive in front of the class early. The Gryffindors and Slytherins eagerly entered the room that had changed each year they'd been at Hogwarts. Their first year it had been full of maps, and oddities that were meant to protect from various magical creatures. That teacher turned out to be half possessed by a shred of a ghost that was somehow leaching from unicorns to live. The next year the room had been filled with portraits upon portraits of the very person teaching at the post. Gilderoy Lockhart turned out to be a fraud, to no one's surprise, and he'd fallen victim to a faulty wand and the only type of spell he was any good at, memory charms. Compared to the last two years the room was mostly bare, and actually kind of plain, but there were some features that brought some interest. Along the back walls there were a few large dog cages, and in the corner there was a fish tank bigger than a bathtub. There were no creatures in the cages as far as the students could tell, but the presence of cages made the children curious none the less.

The student's filtered in and all observed the room. Though it was a bit boring seeing as there wasn't much to look at. The professor wasn't even there yet. Some students even took out their course books ahead of time to be prepared, but as time went on the class grew more bored. That was until Prof. Lupin walked calmly into the room with a small apology, "Sorry for being late class, but now that I'm here you can all put your books away." The class looked amongst themselves with confused expressions. Being told to put away their books at the beginning of a class was new to them. All the same everyone followed their teacher's directions, and then followed him as he moved them out the door.

Danny whispered the Harry, "Is this usual for a class to leave the classroom for a lesson?"

Harry shook his head, and the class walked behind their teacher through the halls of Hogwarts. They didn't need to walk far, according to Lupin, but they didn't make it very far before they were stopped by the sight of Peeves. He was actively stuffing chewed bubble gum into the locks on one of Filch's broom cupboards. The professor stopped the class in the hall and then said, "Hello, Peeves." Peeves looked back at them so fast his head, at first, appeared to move without his body. Then his entire form twisted around almost inhumanly as his body caught up.

"Loopy Lupin!" Peeves greeted the professor. "I had heard rumors that you were back in the castle, but I didn't really think that old crock would make you a teacher." Danny nearly groaned. As far as Danny knew Dumbledore and the Bloody Baron were the only two people who could convince Peeves to do anything. Danny could do something about the ghost, but not without revealing that Peeves held Danny in a similar or greater respect to the Baron and the Headmaster.

Professor Lupin didn't seemed phased in the least by the name "Loopy Lupin", or by the comment that Dumbledore was an old crock. Lupin simply replied, "It's lovely to see you too, however I have to point out that Filch will be most unhappy to find that gum in that lock."

Peeves darted to hover in front of the door and hide it from view as he said, "What lock?" Danny actually did groan at the ghost's childish display, because he knew if Peeves would just take notice that he was hindering Danny's class Peeves would just leave. However Peeves was having too much fun taunting the professor to notice who was in the class he was halting.

Prof. Lupin answered in a steady voice, "I'm asking you politely, Peeves. Take the gum out of the lock, and I'll let you go on your way."

The poltergeist lost his act of innocence almost before the words came out of the professor's mouth, and Peeve's retorted, "Make me!" Lupin couldn't do anything to Peeves, and Peeves and Danny knew it. Peeves puffed out his chest and crossed his arms, preparing to stand there for as long as he needed. Danny in turn took half a step forward. In a group of people who were standing perfectly still, one boy moving towards the poltergeist caught his attention. Peeves looked down at Danny, and all the rosy color seemed to drain for his face. The ghost's eyes darted back to the professor just in time to see the wand pointed at his nose. Lupin said a single word, and the gum from the lock flew like a laser through the air and up the poltergeist's nose.

For a moment everyone froze stunned as Peeves let out a squawk/scream or shock and pain. Then Danny took a step back, knowing the teacher could handle Peeves fine. Said ghost glared at the professor and sipped off into the air and through the ceiling. Then Lupin said to his still surprised students, "Come on, we're only one corredor away now."

Lupin started walking, and the class followed and started talking about the events that had just occurred. Ron and Seamus were trying to get Lupin to teach them the spell he used, but he refused. Dean stood behind Seamus and Ron, laughing at their continued attempts. Harry and Hermione were closer to the center of the group with Danny, but he was having a hard time listening to them while he listened to everyone talk at once. Malfoy and his group were trying their best to belittle what the teacher had done. It seemed they thought that Snape disliking Lupin was enough evidence for them to disregard the new professor's character. Danny filed the information that Snape hated Lupin for later, and continued to listen to other groups as they discussed the display of magic. It wasn't until Harry started waving his hand in front of Danny's face that Danny paid attention to Harry and Hermione, both of whom were looking at him. "Um, what's up, Harry?" Danny said awkwardly.

Harry rolled his eyes and Hermione said, "Me and Harry were just talking about how it's very rare for any magic to affect ghosts."

Danny tilted his head at the new information. "Really?"

Hermione nodded and informed them, "There have been huge studies on it, I believe most the studies have happened in a small town in America called Amity, but they all conclude that ghosts are largely resistant to all forms of magic."

Harry said, "Professor Lupin's spell worked on Peeves well enough."

Hermione agreed, "Very well. I just wonder what he did." Hermione huffed in frustration, "I didn't quite catch what the incantation was, otherwise I'd look it up in the library."

The conversations all stopped where they were, because the professor finally lead them into a room. It was a large classroom, empty and unused except for a few desks and chairs stacked to the sides of the room, and one large wardrobe in the middle of the floor. The wardrobe wasn't all that different from the one's in the dormitories, though it was larger, and every so often it shook on its legs with a great clatter. It looked as though someone had locked something inside that was bouncing against the walls of the wardrobe. Lupin stood a few feet in front of the wardrobe and faced his students, who formed a semicircle around him to be able to see.

"Students." The professor's word was punctuated with a particularly large jerk of the wardrobe towards the class, causing nine tenths of them to step back in fear. Lupin stayed stationary, confident in whatever wards held the creature in place. "Can anyone tell me what a boggart is?" Danny was pretty sure Hermione's hand went up before the question ended, but no one else raised their hands, and this teacher was unbiased, so Hermione got called on. "You." Lupin pointed to Hermione.

Hermione promptly answered, "A boggart is shapeshifting non-being that takes that form of whatever a person fears most." She sounded like she was quoting a textbook, and Danny was tempted to pull out his book and look to see if she really was. None the less her answer was right.

"Correct." Lupin congratulated, "Well done Ms." He paused.

"Granger, Sir. Hermione Granger." Hermione informed him.

Lupin nodded, "Five points Ms. Granger." His words caused Hermione to beam with happiness, and he asked another question. "Now can anyone tell me what a boggart looks like?" Again Hermione's hand shot into the air as fast as the question was uttered.

The professor called on her, and Hermione said, "No one knows, Sir. A boggart changes form immediately once you set eyes upon it."

"Well done once again, Ms. Granger. Another five points to Gryffindor." awarded the points and then moved on with his lesson. "The boggart sitting in this wardrobe has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears." Danny had not been very wary of the rattling wardrobe, but now had a whole knew fear of what was inside the shaking box. "Now I'm going to teach you an incantation."Lupin continued, "Repeat after me. Without wands please." His hand came up into the air like a conductor's baton and he said, "_Riddikulus_." Lupin said, "Now with me," and the entire class followed him to say, "_riddikulus_", at the same time.

Lupin nodded satisfied, "Good, good. I want you to remember that phrase very clearly." The professor looked around at the students and much to everyone's surprise called on, "Neville."

"M-me." Neville pointed at himself as he looked around to make sure there weren't any other Nevilles the teach could have been talking to.

"Yes you." Lupin reassured. "What are you most afraid of?"

"S-sn-snape." Neville muttered the word too low for anyone but Danny to hear. Hearing the word Danny grimaced with sympathy.

It wasn't a second later that Lupin asked Neville to speak up, and this time when Neville said, "Professor Sn-snape," the entire class laughed causing Neville's face to turn bright red.

Lupin chuckled, "Doesn't he to us all, but enough of that. You live with your grandmother. Am I correct?" Neville nodded hesitantly but clearly, and Lupin said, "Okay what does she like to wear?"

Neville's face grew even more confused than usual as he started, "Well she always likes to carry a red handbag-"

The professor cut him off, "No not out loud. Just picture it, just the clothes, and we'll all see it soon enough." Then Prof. Lupin said, "Now what you're going to do Neville is-" Lupin leaned down and whispered in Neville's ear, and both Danny and Neville's jaws dropped in shock. Danny almost laughed out loud at the image Lupin painted in his head. Neville got over his shock and his expression, though still fearful became determined. Lupin pointed his wand to the wardrobe and stepped behind Neville. "Are you ready?" Lupin asked, and once Neville gave another nod, Lupin opened the doors.

The wardrobe door creaked open just a crack, but then out of the darkness thin spindly fingers gripped the door and flung it open. Out of the wardrobe came a particularly angry looking snape, just as greasy and bat-like as ever. The faux teacher took a step towards Neville, but then Neville waved his wand and shouted, "_Riddikulus_". The boggart-snape stumbled back with a pop, and when he stood back up he was in the clothing of Neville's grandmother. The class burst into laughter at the sight of Snape in a large buzzard hat with a fox fur coat, faded green witch robes that stopped just below his knees, beige nylons, and black heeled shoes while he carried a bright red snakeskin handbag.

Lupin shouted over the clamorous laughter, "Quickly now I want you all to form a line, think of what you fear most, and a way to make it funny."

The class wasted no time bumping each other into a rough single file line. Malfoy and his cronies elbowed their way to the front, eager to show off, but soon everyone was getting a turn at they moved up the line. Lavender was afraid snakes. Parvati went right after her and was afraid of clowns, which reminded Danny of Freakshow, but that didn't top his worse fear. Hermione was afraid of failing a test, which was comical, but not nearly enough to quell Danny's dred. Ron was afraid of spiders, so he strapped roller skates to its eight legs. Then it was Danny's turn.

Danny focused on the image of a thermos and prepared as he walked up to the floundering spider. The arachnid was no more as Danny's fear took its place, or more accurately Danny took it's place. The boys standing before each other were identical in nearly every way with just a few differences. Unlike the real Danny, the boggart-danny looked about two years younger, and had red glowing eyes. The boggart was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt that showed some of the scars on his arms, but more importantly, boggart-danny was coated in blood. It looked like he'd swam in a literal river of blood. Danny shivered, and said the incantation so fast that no one got a close look at what his fear had been. "_Riddikulus_." Danny felt the familiar tingle of warmth travel down his arm, and a blinding white light shot out from the ground. When the light was gone so was the faux Danny. All that was left was a metal thermos with the word Fenton painted in neon green on the side.

The earlier euphoric atmosphere of the class all but disappeared in a shroud of confusion and unease. Danny was so fast in his spell casting it was impossible to see details of what his fear was, but they all knew that it had been a figure of a small child coated in blood. The class was silent enough to hear Danny's small laugh, but the sound had no humor. Danny found enough irony in how he got rid of his boggart to give a small laugh to keep the thing down, but he moved aside quickly so Harry could take over.

Harry was a little shaken after seeing Danny's boggart. Other than Danny he'd been the closest the the creature and the most able to see. He wished he hadn't seen it. He only glimpsed it, but it was clearly Danny covered in gallons of blood. It looked like a younger version of Danny, but Harry was scared of what Danny could have gone through that had caused that fear. In all Harry's worrying about Danny he was unfocused when he stepped forward to face the boggart, but it turned out he didn't need to be. As soon as Harry stepped forward Prof. Lupin jumped in front of him. The boggart became a hovering glowing ball of white light, then Lupin said the incantation, and it became a white balloon that popped and flew chaotically around the room. As the balloon fizzled out it landed in the wardrobe, and Lupin locked it back in.

"I think that's enough for today." Lupin said, causing many moans from the few students who hadn't gotten a turn yet. Lupin ignored the complaints and placed a few wards on the once again shaking box. Then the teacher lead his class back to the classroom. Harry was disappointed that he hadn't gotten to face the dementor he knew the boggart would have formed. He was worried that the professor didn't think he was strong enough to face his fears like everyone else. Harry was also worried about Danny. Harry knew Danny was a halfa, and a hero. He knew that Danny had witnessed the deaths of his adoptive family and his friends, but Danny never mentioned anything about what Harry just saw. That image of the young Danny, no older than eleven, covered in blood head to toe and grinning, would never leave Harry's mind.

Harry wasn't the only one who was curious about Danny's fear. Hermione was deep in thought about three things, one of which was Danny's fear. Her thoughts were only put off by the rest of the class, but they weren't forgotten.

Danny simply stayed quiet and prayed that no one asked him about his boggart as he continued through class.

…

Danny went to bed that night with the thought that he couldn't believe that no one had asked him a single question about the appearance of his boggart all day. The day had been absolutely normal. They had class Harry and Ron put off homework for playing gobstones, and Danny and Hermione joined them after they quickly finished their homework for the night. It was fun. Ron trounced Harry and Hermione, Danny beat Ron, and Harry beat Danny once. Neville sat nearby for a while and watched, and Specter took the opportunity to land in Neville's lap to be petted. All in all it was a good day, and it ended with Danny in bed after everyone else, so they didn't see his scars. Exactly like it usually ended. Danny smiled as he fell asleep.

_It was that wardrobe again. Danny knew he'd seen it somewhere, but he couldn't pull up where for the life of him. The piece of furniture was the only thing that stood out. It was on a black floor, and the surrounding area was covered in an impenetrable fog. The wardrobe was the only thing Danny was paying any attention to._

_Danny knew he recognized the wardrobe, and in some way the wooden construct was important. Danny tilted his head as he tried to remember the lines that he knew he'd seen. In his curiousity he unconsciously took a step forward. That step suddenly ended the peaceful silence Danny hadn't noticed until it was gone. As his foot came down the wardrobe started shaking, and it seemed to draw Danny closer. As Danny grew closer and closer the shaking worsened until Danny thought the oversized cabinet might break. For some reason Danny knew he didn't want the cabinet to break. He wanted it to stay closed._

_Danny couldn't fight his own body as he drew closer and closer to the wardrobe, but the closer he got the more afraid he was. Finally when Danny was just two feet from the wardrobe he felt so panicked that he didn't have a rational thought beyond the thought of getting as far away as possible. That's everything suddenly stopped. He stopped moving towards the wardrobe, and the wardrobe stopped shaking. It was so sudden Danny wasn't sure what to do. He was still afraid, but nothing was happening. Danny took a step back, before he'd really decided to run, and he was frozen in place as the door handle on the wardrobe turned._

_It was agonizingly slow, but the wardrobe door creaked open, and in the darkness Danny could almost see a figure. As it moved blood dripped from its form, and it's red eyes were visible before any other piece of it. Danny was shaking at the thought of what monster would appear out of that darkness to consume him, but he couldn't look away. Then in one fluid step his mirror image stepped out of the doorway. It was indiscernible from him. It was him. It was in a black sweatshirt and gray sweatpants, like Danny's pajamas. It had messy black hair that was so dark it glinted nearly white in the moonlight. His eyes were icy blue with the smallest near imperceptible flecks of cyan. Danny lifted a shaky hand to the mirror image, but it wasn't a mirror. It followed his movements, but then it stepped forward. It took step after step until it's hand touched the one Danny still held out towards the figure. Then their hands merged and Danny realized it was a duplicate. He let it merge completely, and when he was whole again he noticed the landscape beyond the wardrobe. The black ground was actually asphalt, and Danny was standing in front of the wardrobe in the middle of an empty street. Danny looked to his right and gasped at the sight of the Nasty Burger._

_That building was an omen, something was wrong. Danny walked backwards away from the burger joint that represented so much fear. He was stopped when his back hit a cold sheet of glass. Danny spun around to face the glass and saw a massive window that reflected him with the Nasty Burger behind him almost as clearly as a mirror. Behind himself he saw the Nasty Burger in ruins. His parents, his sister, Sam, and Tucker were all tied to the two vats of sauce that were still standing in the rubble. Those two vats wouldn't be standing for long though, Danny's sharp eyes caught the glint of the temperature gage pointing into the red zone, and he knew there was only a few seconds until it exploded. Danny jerked as he tried to twist his body towards his family, but once again Danny found himself immobile. Danny turned frustrated eyes to his own form in the mirror glass and felt confused at first. His posture was relaxed, and a smug smile formed on his face. Then it exploded. _

_The want to scream built in Danny's chest and was gone before he could do anything about it. His eyes glinted orange red with the flames of the explosion, then the explosion grew so bright he could no longer see. He felt the stinging grit of dirt and small chunks hitting him and bouncing off, but he refused to close his eyes. A split second later it was all over. The ruble from before was all but vaporized, and what had remained of the Nasty Burger was gone completely. The fire was gone, the violence of the explosion destroying even that, but the red in Danny's eyes remained. Danny's hair was black as midnight, but refused to reflect any light in it's filthy state. Danny's pale skin was coated with black char that deepened the creases in skin. That was all expected after the explosion, but the red eyes were a surprise. For some reason the unexpected color made Danny laugh. _

_The laugh bubbled out like a small chuckle, and Danny scratched the back of his neck in his deeply ingrained nervous habit. That was when he felt something crusty and wet on the back of his neck. Danny frowned as he pulled whatever it was off his neck and brought it to his crimson eyes. Then his laugh began anew, but this time it wasn't a small chuckle it was uproarious. In his hand was a small chunk of blood flesh with singed red hairs sticking out of it. It had to be either part of his mother's scalp or his sister's, and it was so funny. The odds of it flying through the air and hitting him, and the fact that his family was blown into such tiny chunks combined in his head to make a hysterical scenario. It was like setting a fire cracker off in a pile of jello and then laughing when the explosion was much bigger than you pictured. _

_A wide grin was still stretched across Danny's face when he looked back up at his reflection in the glass. A large section of the glass was gone, and Danny's reflection was cracked, but he could still see his face. He turned to himself and he spoke in a smooth baritone that belonged more to a man closer to the age of twenty then ten. "I'm still here." Dan spoke out Danny's mouth, and his eyes laughed in Danny's sockets. "And there's only one more member of my family to kill."_

The image of Harry's worried expression popped into Danny's vision as he yelled, "No!", and Danny scooted away from Harry as fast as he could. He needed to get away before he killed Harry too. Danny wasn't phased when the mattress under him disappeared, he rolled backwards in the air and landed his feet on the floor facing away from Harry.

"Danny!" Harry cried in alarm as his brother let out a shout and launched himself into a twisting flip that landed him on his feet facing away from Harry. All the other boys were on the other side of Danny's bed, and Danny was now facing them. Ron, Neville, and Dean's jaws had dropped open in shock as Danny's reaction upon waking up, and Seamus's eyebrows rose higher than Harry had ever seen. Harry wasn't concerned about them though. He was concerned about Danny. "Danny?" Harry asked quietly. Danny spun around faster than humanly possible, and his eyes focused frightfully on Harry's form. Harry could see tears in the corners of his brother's eyes, and Danny was hyperventilating and shaking. Harry took a step forward, planning on comforting his brother somehow, but it backfired.

Danny took three steps back for Harry's one and stuttered, "N-nono no no no. Stay back!" Harry froze as Danny said, "D-don't come near me!" Danny's mind was still caught between the reality in his dreams and the present reality. He didn't know where he was, or why he was there, but he knew he was Dan, and Dan wanted to kill Harry. Harry was shocked at Danny's words, but as soon as the shock wore down a sense of rejection wormed up in Harry that shocked him nearly as much as Danny's words. Danny sensed Harry's hurt, and it finally made Danny aware enough to realize where he was and what he was doing. "Harry?" Danny asked in a timid voice, like he was just waking up. Then Danny remembered what he said and he tried his best to repair the damage, "Oh my god, Harry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean that. I mean I did, but not like that."

Harry tried to be understanding, but it was hard this early in the morning. Harry kept his voice even as he asked, "What did you mean, Danny?" Harry wanted to congratulate himself on seeming so calm, even if he might seem a little cold. He could tell Danny understood exactly what he was trying to do, and that was enough for now.

"I had a nightmare." Danny paused and Harry sensed his brother's hesitance to continue, but for Harry's sake Danny ignored the other people in the room and finished, "I had a nightmare that I hurt you."

"I'm sorry." Harry didn't know whether he was sorry that Danny had had the dream or that Harry had misinterpreted Danny's words while he was still half asleep and made it worse. Thankfully Danny understood that both reasons were involved with the apology, and he waved Harry off.

"Don't be. I should be apologizing for waking you all up at this hour." Danny raised his hand up to rub his neck, but stopped his hand around his shoulder as he shuddered. He couldn't help the image of touching the charred flesh on the back of his neck in his dream. Danny placed his hand down awkwardly as he turned to apologize to the boys behind him.

Ron was already crawling back in bed and muttered something like, "'S 'kay", before he started snoring again. Seamus glared as Ron's snoring form and muttered under his breath about stupid heavy sleepers. Then he too crawled back in his bed and closed the curtains.

Dean sat down on his bed and shrugged, "As long as you're okay now."

Danny nodded, "I'm fine." The lie rolled off his tongue easily, but it was true enough for Dean's question. There was nothing physically wrong with Danny, but there might be something mentally wrong.

Dean gave a half hearted smile and said, "Well, goodnight then." Then he too was in bed behind his curtains. Neville was surprised and uncomfortable to find himself the last boy awake with Harry and Danny and quickly added his own goodnight to the rest. Danny himself walked shakily over the his bed and let his head sink into his hands as he sat on the crumpled blankets at the base of his bed.

Danny didn't move. For a long time he just sat there with his head in his hands, breathing. Even when Harry sat beside him he refused to look up. Danny was focused unwillingly on the images his mind had conjured. It was much tamer than some of Danny's dreams had been, but it was so vivid and real. Even after Danny had woken up it took him so long to realize he was awake, to realize that that monster wasn't him. Danny could still feel the charred flesh in his hands on on his neck. Behind his closed eyes he saw fire consume the frightened faces of his friends and family, and the blinding white flash of light that came with the raw destruction that tore his family apart, but it didn't happen. Danny had to remind himself of that. Danny wasn't Dan, and he promised his family that he never would be. Just because he remembered it didn't mean it had actually ever happened. Clockwork stopped that, and Dan was nothing more than an artifact in Clockwork's tower.

Finally Danny was able to push the dream back as he again silently thanked Clockwork, and he stood up. Danny grabbed some clothes for the day and walked towards the bathroom. A nice cold shower always drove his dreams of fire away better than old promises or names could. Danny only paused when he heard Harry open his own wardrobe to grab some clothes for himself. "What are you doing?" Danny asked as if it wasn't obvious.

Harry looked confused. "I'm coming with you." Harry lifted the clothes in his arms a little for emphasis and then said, "It's not like I can just go back to sleep after all of that." Danny hesitated. On one hand he didn't want Harry to think he was hiding something, on the other hand he wanted to hide his scars for a while longer. "What's wrong?" Harry asked when Danny stopped to long. "Don't tell me you're shy?"

"No, no. It's not that." Danny responded, but offered no further response, and he stayed in place.

Harry took a couple steps ahead of Danny and waved Danny to come with him, "Well, come on."

Danny took a step back and shook his head. "I don't like showering with others."

Harry frowned in confusion and asked, "Why?"

Danny sighed and strode past Harry into the boy's bathroom. Harry followed Danny and found his brother double checking that they were alone before Danny turned back to Harry and pulled up one of his long sleeves. At first Harry was very confused, but then he looked down at Danny's skin and he froze in shock and all the blood drained from his face. Harry's first thought was that Danny had been self harming, but he noticed that the cuts on Danny's arm looked nothing like that. It looked more like Danny had been used as target practice for some novice knife thrower. There were even a few cuts that looked more like shrapnel wounds, and Harry just caught sight of a veiny burn crawling up Danny's elbow when Danny pulled his sleeve down.

Harry looked up to find Danny trying his hardest to look anywhere but at Harry. "Look." Danny started, "It's not that I'm uncomfortable around you. It's just that fighting took it's toll on my body."

Danny trailed off, and Harry asked, "All that was from your fights?" Danny nodded yes at the floor, and Harry replied, "But there were so many."

Danny looked up and answered with a small smile, "I had a lot of fights."

Harry raised his voice in exasperation, "Now is not the time for sarcasm, Danny!"

Danny put his hands up and said, "Alright. I'm sorry, but sarcasm or not it's true." Danny's voice was a little hesitant as he explained, "I really have been in a lot of fights. You know that. Maybe you didn't know the full extent of what I told you, but I did tell you."

Harry returned, "So those scars are what? A by product to you?" Danny nodded and Harry said, "Danny, don't you get it that each of those is evidence that you were hurt."

Danny felt insulted that Harry would even think that Danny didn't consider what his scars showed. That was why Danny hid them in the first place. "Of course I know that." Danny said subconsciously standing straighter and speaking more confidently as he scolded his brother. "I was the one who got the scars in the first place, and I was the one who hid them because of what they are evidence to." Danny's glare was almost enough to make Harry afraid of his brother. Danny huffed, "I was the one who was hurt, and now I bare the evidence of that. That's why I hide. If anyone was to see me they'd ask too many questions I couldn't answer and everyone I've ever known would come under fire." Danny didn't even realize he was ranting until he said, "My parents aren't even!.." Danny stopped abruptly as he realized what he was about to say.

Harry tried, "I'm sorry I", but Danny cut him off.

"Don't. You have nothing to be sorry for." Danny hovered up to the small window that let light into the boy's bathroom. "I shouldn't have sprung it on you like that." Danny sighed and said, "I think I'm going out for a fly to clear my mind." Then before Harry could stop him Danny faded from visibility as he fly through the wall and out of the tower.


	10. New Family

_AN: It's been a while. Too long, but I haven't really stopped writing. I've got so many ideas and half written stories, both fan fictions and my own novels, that I can't concentrate. It's taking me ages to do anything in a single story, and this one is a testament to that fact. I feel kind of guilty leaving you guys with nothing for so long, because I have been writing, and I love your reviews, but I've just had so little to give you. Anyway, this chapter is my shortest yet, but I wanted to publish it so that you could read what I have. It's unedited, like everything I post, so cut my grammar and dramatics some slack. Otherwise, enjoy the chapter._

**Chapter 10**

Danny only flew for a minute before his feet unconsciously touched the turf of the quittage pitch. As popular as the wizard sport was, not even the quittage teams were up this early. Something Danny was thankful for since it meant he could change back to human without worrying about who might see him.

Danny didn't want to be Phantom right now. His ghost powers were the cause of all the problems he was having right now. Those problems boiled down to one problem, and Danny didn't know how to fix it. He and Harry weren't speaking.

After Danny had flown off yesterday morning, everything seemed awkward around Harry. Danny kept catching Harry glancing to Danny's scarred arm, even though in full uniform the scars were always covered. Though Danny wanted to approach Harry and apologize at many points during the day, when he saw Harry glancing at his scars once again, he couldn't help but be angry. Danny thought the he could have maybe shown Harry his scars in a different way, but if there was a different and better way Danny had yet to think of it. More than being angry at Harry for his overreaction Danny was embarrassed by his own reaction. He'd been so fast to become defencive of his scars that he ended up nearly yelling at Harry for something that wasn't his fault.

All around that morning had been a mess, and neither brother had known how to approach each other the rest of the day. Of course everyone had noticed, because Harry and Danny were usually inseparable. Their friends tried to figure out why Danny and Harry weren't speaking, but when both boys remained tight lipped they nervously settled themselves to wait the issue out. Malfoy had been ecstatic to tease Danny about something that actually got under his skin, but then Danny lashed out about what a pathetic Potter-worshiping wannabe Malfoy was. Malfoy retaliated with a couple curses both magical and verbal that Danny dodged with skill and ease as he flitted away from the scene.

It was much easier to dodge Malfoys curses than it was to dodge Hermione's questions. Hermione really wanted to know why Harry and Danny were fighting, and Danny found himself hiding in some very unlikely places between classes and during lunch to avoid her. That lead to Danny's finding of some very unique places in the castle. In the great hall the illusion of the sky hovered just below the ceiling, and Danny found he could comfortably rest atop a structural beam in the ceiling without being seen from below. Halfway up the tower on the way to divination, there was a room that had no door. Of course anyone could just walk through the wall where the door should have been, but Danny was the only one who ever did. There were many hiding places that Danny had discovered, but hiding came with plenty of downsides.

The main downside of hiding all the time was Danny losing his free time. Danny liked his freedom, and being cooped up in cramped spaces to avoid the many questions of a certain know-it-all made Danny long for a good flight. However now that Danny was outside on his own flying again, he wanted nothing to do with it.

Flying always made him feel better, but not today. Today Danny was just feeling rotten. Harry had stared at his scars all day yesterday, Danny still didn't know how things got so awkward to fast, and all his friends were annoying him. On top of everything, Danny's most recent falling out made him miss his sister more than ever. He wanted nothing more than to talk with Jazz, and the constant reminder that she was dead was acid on an old wound. Danny had thought he was over this stage of grief, that he's at least moved on enough to not think about his family every couple minutes. It seemed without Harry that wasn't the case.

At least it was the week end. Danny no longer had to worry about his classes and talking to or avoiding Harry in those classes. Thanks to the homework habits Danny had developed over the summer, his homework was complete. That meant Danny had a lot of free time, something he wasn't used to. Sure Danny had been spending time with his friends here at hogwarts more than he'd ever spent with Sam and Tucker in Amity, but that wasn't the same type of free time as the time he had now, completely to himself.

Danny found himself not wanting to fly as fast and far as he could. If anything Danny wanted to hit something. He never thought he'd miss the fights, but Danny would have given anything for the Box Ghost to show up right at that moment. Even better Skulker could show up. Skulker always gave Danny a better fight, and there was just too much time to think when he was fighting Boxy. Danny sighed as he came out of his thoughts. No ghosts were going to show up, and he should have seen that as a good thing, but Danny was missing every aspect of his old life right now.

It was too early for anyone else to be awake, but maybe that was a good thing. Danny thought since no one was awake anyway he might as well get out that frustration. Though he didn't have anyone or anything to beat up, he did know some basic fighter exercises his mom had taught him. It was just a series of kicks, punches, jumps, and rolls, but Danny stumbled from lack of practice with hand to hand fights. Danny's powers had grown so much he was barely using his fists anymore, and it showed in his disbalance. Danny did find his rhythm soon enough though, and he began to incorporate his own moves into the set him mom taught him. Spin kicks and uppercuts were some of Danny's favorites in a fight, but he also threw in some other moves he'd never been comfortable with. As Danny practiced he gained speed, and an unconscious smile worked its way onto his face. He felt like he was back in Fenton Works, practicing alongside his friends and sister. He could almost hear Tucker making fun of him for his sloppy moves, and Sam rounding on Tucker to defend him. Jazz would walk into the room and scold everyone and try to force them to do something stupid like trust falls, and everyone would ignore her.

The problem was Danny wasn't training with his team. He was venting frustration alone in a forest outside a magical school in Scotland, half a world away from his home town, and the graves of his team. Danny stopped abruptly as his breathing turned to pants, but it had nothing to do with his workout. Suddenly aware of how alone he was, Danny sank to the ground and tried to control his errant emotions. Danny pulled his body into itself and hugged his knees against his chest in an effort to stop his uncontrolled shivering. Then all at once Danny lost control, and his shivers became quakes that racked his body to accompany the small noises that tore from his throat. For the first time since his family's burial, Danny cried without hesitation or care. For a while Danny truly mourned his family and friends.

Danny's life in Amity was completely gone, and everyone who made it important was gone with it. No longer would he listen to his dad ramble about ghosts only to be stopped by his mother's offerings of fudge and cookies. Sam would never again rant about injustice or gently tend to his wounds in the middle of the night. Tucker would never talk to another girl, never eat another scrap of meat. Where he was he wouldn't need it, but Danny still needed him. He needed Tucker to force him to relax when he didn't want to, to be his accomplice in all things unheroic. Most of all Danny needed his sister, who was always worried for him, always butting into his life, and always cared enough to stick around when he pushed her away. Danny didn't have anyone of them anymore. No one did, and he was left alone.

Though he had no one when they died, it was no longer a fact that Danny was alone. Danny had many people who cared for him. Starting with Jeremy and Ida, who had adopted him in record time, sold their home, and helped him move to England. They were now Danny's family, and though they were knew, Danny loved them as much as his broken heart would allow. Then there was Danny's friends. It hurt Danny to think of his friends and know he couldn't say Sam and Tucker, but at least he had Neville, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron. Danny had no question that his new friends would be loyal to the end. Finally, and most importantly, Danny had Harry. Harry, the brother Danny had never known, was at Danny's side always. He did his best to share his brother's burden. Harry worried, laughed, and fought for his love of his brother, and Danny knew he would do the same.

Danny wasn't sure how long he'd spent out in the forest, and the thick threatening clouds refused to hint at the answer. The halfa also wasn't sure he needed to know. All he knew was that he'd been out there for a while. His body was sore, more from his cramped position than his exercises, and his stomach was starting to complain audibly about his lack of food. It would have been apparent to anyone that it was time for Danny to go back to the castle, and he did just that.

Tired from his emotional release Danny trudged as a human back to the castle, and made the most direct route he could find to the great hall. It turned out it was late morning or early afternoon by the time Danny had come inside. Most of the other students were starting lunch as they happily chatted away their weekend with their friends. Danny's group of friends was no different. Ron was happily scarfing food, as Hermione tried and failed to get information out of Harry. Ginny commented on how Ron could eat again so soon after he'd had breakfast, and Neville was trying to stop Hermione from buggin Harry. Danny heard Neville as he walked across the room towards the people he'd been avoiding for the past twenty four hours. "Just leave him be Hermione. He's not going to answer you."

Hermione ignored Neville in favor of continuing to rant, "Harry, you don't just start avoiding someone after spending every second possible with them because of nothing. If you would just tell us what's going on maybe we could help."

Harry glared at Hermione and opened his mouth, likely to say something rude about other people's business, but Danny beat him to it. "And maybe some things need to solve themselves, Hermione." Danny's comment earned him a startled jump from everyone but Ginny, who was the only one who saw him coming. Everyone twisted to look at Danny with shocked and guilty eyes, and Harry's glare melted into caution. Danny refused to let his hand come to the back of his neck, and instead his fingers played with the edges of his long sleeve t-shirt.

Silence fell across the group, and Danny's friends awkwardly tried to avoid staring at him only for their eyes to flit to Harry and then back again. Knowing that he was the cause for the tension Danny made it his responcibility to end the uncomfortable silence. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Harry blinked, suddenly confused. He had clearly not been expecting Danny to apologize.

Danny repeated, "I'm sorry I ran off like that. I'm sorry I never explained that side of Phantom more clearly, and I'm sorry I avoided you."

As Danny finished the silence remained, but this time it was one of shock, and was ended by Harry. "I should be apologizing not you. You've told me everything about yourself, I should have expected-" Harry didn't finish his sentence, not wanting to reveal anything to condemning in front of their friends. Instead he immediately started into a new sentence, "Even if I was caught off guard I should have been more understanding."

"I forgive you." Danny halted Harry from adding anything else.

Harry could only think of one reply. With a relieved grin he said, "Me too."

Danny smiled back at Harry, and there was a moment where everyone simply took in the relief they could all feel, now that Harry and Danny had forgiven each other for whatever they'd been arguing about. Danny didn't let the silence last long though. He broke the moment as he plopped down beside Neville and pulled the closest food towards himself. "Now that that's off my chest, I'm starving!" Danny stated simply before he filled his mouth with food.

Harry chuckled at Danny's renewed antics, and Ron openly laughed when a piece of food fell from Danny's mouth only to be caught by his hand and stuffed back inside. After that everyone once again fell into their comfortable interaction. Everyone, except Hermione. After a couple jokes about Danny's eating habits, Hermione brought the conversation back to the argument for her own curiosity. "You're all going to move on just like that?" Hermione drew every eye to herself, and she wasn't phased in the slightest. "You're just going to let them go through a fight like that, and end it while we remain completely in the dark?"

Hermione rounded on Harry, "We've been your friends for years," she turned to Danny, "and I thought you trusted us." Hermione's statement pulled Ron's, Harry's, and Danny's mind back to the argument Danny and Harry had been through about trust just a few weeks before. Ron never had gotten around to telling Hermione or anyone else what he over heard in that conversation, and had all but forgotten until that moment. Now that he remembered he found himself beginning to agree with Hermione.

Harry started, "Just because I've known you long enough to trust you with anything doesn't mean Danny does, and I won't betray his trust to tell you."

Ron retorted instead of Hermione, shocking all of his friends in the process. "That's not fair. We've been through life and death situations before, and even though I've only known Danny for a few weeks I trust him like I trust you." Ron's words were pointed at Harry, but his eyes pointed to Danny, and it was Danny whom he addressed last. "Why can't you trust me like I trust you?"

Danny replied quietly, but unmistakably, "I do." Danny would have laughed at his friends stupefied expressions if it weren't for the seriousness of the situation. "I have been hiding something from you guys, well multiple things, but I just don't know how to tell you. I don't like to talk about it."

Ginny wrinkled her nose at the drama, "Just say it."

Danny frowned thinking over how best to explain everything to his friends and sighed as he realized telling them everything right now wasn't a very good option. "Look," Danny started, "I'm not going to tell you everything right now. It would take to long, but I'll tell you the first thing I've been hiding." Danny swallowed thickly, and Harry's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates realizing what he brother was about to say. Harry ducked under the table and set himself on the seat next to his brother to give Danny comfort. Danny gave no sign that he noticed Harry at all, but he was able to speak more calmly as he said, "Four months ago there was an accident in my home town. My friends and I were on a bus to go on a field trip." Ron and Ginny shared a confused look at the words bus and field trip, but they had enough common sense to keep their mouths shut. "My parents," Danny swallowed another lump before he said, "Jack and Maddie Fenton, were chaperones along with the parents of one of my friends. My sister, J-jazz, was also there for a extra credit project." The group was surprised at Danny's stutter. Danny always seemed so confident and aloof they didn't think anything could get to him, but here he was falling apart slowly in front of them. "It was completely out of control." Danny skipped ahead, "Sam was in a fighting match with the head cheerleader, and Sam's parents were arguing with her. My parents and sister were trying to break everything up, and my other friend Tucker and I were doing our best to stop Sam from launching herself bodily at the Paulina. Paulina's closest friend Star was similarly holding back Paulina from ripping into Sam's hair." Danny smiled slightly as he described the chaotic scene that was the last his family had ever experienced, but even as he smiled his eyes filled with tears that he refused to let fall. Danny's voice shook, but he continued quietly, "I-I guess the driver was distracted by the maham, because the bus lost control. The wheel lost traction and the bus jerked throwing everyone everywhere." Danny continued without pause, lost in his memory. "I felt my head hit one of the padded seats on my way down, and I heard a sickening crack beside me followed by the screeching of truck brakes." Danny took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice low and calm. "The truck hit the back of the bus and sent us rolling off the road." Danny's voice was low but stronger as he said, "Eight people died. My parents, my sister, my two friends, Paulina, Star, and Sam's mom Pamela Manson."

Silence reigned supreme in a group that was shocked and horrified, but being Gryffindor's they didn't let the silence suppress them. Danny's head was bowed to hide his eyes, but that didn't stop Ginny from wrapping her friend in a quiet hug. "I'm so sorry Danny."

Danny jumped, startled by the sudden contact, but he relaxed quickly enough. Somewhere in the back of her mind Hermione realized she'd never seen Danny surprised by anything, but she shoved the thought aside into the growing pile of oddities surrounding Danny. Even in such a state as Danny was he managed to shock his friends again when he chuckled. Though it wasn't strong or overly joyous, Danny's laugh wasn't bitter either. He reminisced, "It was such a common moment for me and my friends. There was so much chaos, and I guess it's not ever going to be okay that it happened, but I'm not overly upset now. I miss them," Danny explained, "but I'm glad they died quickly and peacefully."

This time the silence was mournful and understanding. Harry stayed plastered to his brother's side, and Ginny refused to let Danny go until Fred and George popped up behind her singing love songs. "_I want to know what love is!_" Fred and George sang enthusiastically and in unison. Ginny quickly scooted away from Danny blushing madly, and Danny glared at the twins as they switched songs. "_Baby come back! You can blame it all on me._"

Ron openly started laughing at the apt change in tune, and Harry quickly followed his friend's example. Danny growled, "Shut up, you idiots." Though Danny's voice didn't hold much animosity towards the twins seeing as they had effectively dispersed the mournful mood.

Apparently the lack of threat in Danny's tone simply encouraged the twins, who shared a wicked smile between them. Then they both took in giant breaths of air and started squalling at the top of their lungs, "_And IIIII-ee-I Will Always Love YOUOUewoohoo! Will Always Love YOOUUU!_"

Once the screeching voices of the twins began to ring in his ears, Danny decided to go after the Weasley twins after all, and bounced out of his seat with the shout of, "That's it!" Fred and George were halfway out of the room with Danny hot on their heels by the time Danny finished saying. "If you guys won't shut up, then I'll make you!"

In response Fred simply started, "_Run away with me in the night._" The great hall and all who resided in it couldn't hear George's words, but they heard his voice pick up the song as the three gryffindors ran out of earshot.

The great hall was silent for a moment longer as they all strained to hear the boys, but it didn't last as the room broke out into chatter once more. Harry laughed as the tension in the room broke and said, "We should probably go and make sure Fred and George are okay."

Ron rolled his eyes and said, "The twins can take care of themselves. Besides they got themselves into this mess, they can get themselves out."  
Ginny nodded in agreement with her brother. "And if they can't take care of themselves, well then whatever happens serves them right."

Harry shrugged and said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. And after all it's not like Danny will do anything too bad to them anyway. He'd too nice for that."

Catching that Harry mentioned nothing about being worried about his brother Neville asked, "Are you just assuming your brother will win?"

Harry was briefly surprised that Neville caught that, but shook it off and answered, "Of course. Those twins don't stand a ghost of a chance." Harry snorted at his own pun, ignoring the odd looks he pulled his plate from the other side of the table and started to nibble on an edge of his toast, letting the topic drop.

With the end of one topic there was an opportunity for a new one, and Hermione took full advantage of that. "Harry about Danny's parents, did you know?" Hermione was direct, and brought some of the solemn mood from earlier back, but it was diluted with curiosity.

Harry put his piece of toast down and said, "How about we head back to the common room first?" The gryffindors all looked around at each other, sitting in front of empty plates, and dutifully stood up and walked with Harry. Outside of the great hall, once the noise died down Harry said, "The night I met Danny he told me all his secrets. He had a fear that his parents would disown him for some of his secrets before they died. That fear kept him from saying anything to them, and he refused to make the same mistake with me."

Hermione frowned and asked, "But wasn't he scared of losing you."

The group was surprised by Harry's nod. "That's why he told me."

Ron frowned and said, "That doesn't make sense." Ron barely finished when Ginny whacked him upside the head. "Hey what was that for?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Oh I don't know? Maybe the fact that you question interrupted Harry who was currently answering it."

Ron looked at Harry, who was giving him a pointed glare, and Ron brought his hand up to scratch the top of his head. "Oh, um, right. Carry on." Ron said nervously.

Harry rolled his eyes at his friend and then continued, "Danny was afraid of losing more family so soon, but he knew if he didn't tell me when he did then he never would. So instead of waiting Danny told me immediately when we were alone, like ripping off a bandaid. I guess he figured after having known me for only a day it would hurt less if I abandoned him."

"That's terrible." Hermione said, "That someone would have to make that decision to possibly lose their families, or lie."

Harry's mouth turned down as he spoke the bitter truth of the matter. "Yes, but it's not uncommon, Hermione. A lot of people have family that refuses to accept them. I would have given anything for the power to lie to the Dursley's about what I am, but they knew before I did." Harry shrugged, "It doesn't really matter anyway, because Danny's never losing me."


End file.
